THE (f7/! t/i^dAU^* 

PRINCIPLES OF SCIENCE 

APPLIED TO 

THE DOMESTIC AND MECHANIC ARTS, 



MANUFACTURES AND AGRICULTURE : 



REFLECTIONS ON THE PROGRESS OF THE ARTS, AND THEIR 
INFLUENCE ON NATIONAL WELFARE. 



BY ALONZO POTTER, D. D. 

PROFESSOR OF MORAL PHILOSOPHY AND RHETORIC IN UNION COLLEGB, 
SCHENECTADY, NEW YORK. 



BOSTON: 

MARSH, CAPEN, LYON, AND WEBB. 

1841. 



T41 

K4 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1840, by 

Marsh, Capen, Lyon, and Webb, 
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts. 



EDUCATION PRESS. 



ADVERTISEMENT. 



This Volume is submitted to the public with diffi- 
dence. The subject is foreign from the usual course 
of the Author's studies, and was at first undertaken 
for the lecture room, rather than for the press. Large 
portions of it have been delivered in the form of lec- 
tures before young men, in Lyceums, and Mechanics' 
Institutes, and also before the students of the College 
with which the Author is connected. 

Some of the Chapters in the Third Part, especially 
those on Cloth-manufacture, Metallurgy, and Glass-mak- 
ing, are little more than compilations ; and the Author 
regrets, that, several years having elapsed since they 
were first drawn up, he is unable to give proper au- 
thority for all his statements, or to refer, in every case, 
to the source from which he drew his materials, and, 
he doubts not, in some instances, his language. He 
would, however, instance Dr. Bigelow's 'Elements of 
Technology,'* Babbage on the ' Economy,' and Ure on 
the ' Philosophy, of Manufactures,' Ure's ' Dictionary 
of the Arts,' and McCulloch's ' Statistics of the British 
Empire,' as works to which he has been greatly indebt- 
ed, especially in a recent revision. The Work will be 
found to contain some notice of most of the late im- 
provements in such Arts as are discussed. 

* Since the manuscript of the present Work has been in the pos- 
session of the Publishers, they have issued a new edition of the 
work of Dr. Bigelow, above referred to, revised, amended, and im- 
proved, by the author, and now entitled, * The Useful Arts, consid- 
ered in connexion with the Applications of Science.' It forms vol- 
umes xi. and xii. of ' The School. Library.' — Publishers^ 



4 ADVERTISEMENT. 

It is hoped that this Volume may prove to be a con- 
venient Manual for those who are engaged in indus- 
trious pursuits, and also for students, and for popular 
reading. To give a complete view of Technology, 
was far from the Author's intention, and has been ren- 
dered unnecessary by the able and thorough work of 
Dr. Bigelow. He aspires to no higher office than that 
of introducing the student to a subject of vast extent, 
and inciting him to pursue it. So far as it presents 
a formal and somewhat extended view of the con- 
nexion between Science and Art, this Treatise may 
claim to fill a place not yet occupied in our literature. 
The Author is but too sensible, however, that it will be 
found defective ; and should it contribute, in any de- 
gree, to prepare the way for a more copious and accu- 
rate work, he will see it superseded without regret. 

Residing at a distance from the Publishers, the Au- 
thor has found it impossible to revise the sheets, as 
they passed through the press. For this important ser- 
vice, he has been indebted to the kindness of a friend, 
Dr. E. Hale, of Boston, who has been untiring in his 
attention to it, and who, besides several amendments, 
has added to the Work about twenty pages of original 
matter. To him the reader is indebted for the descrip- 
tion of printing and the account of Dixon's transfer- 
ring process, in the body of the Work, and for the 
article in the Appendix, describing Galvanic Engrav- 
ing. 

The Author would also express his acknowledge- 
ments to Mr. J. W. Ingraham, the able and indefatiga- 
ble Supervisor of the works incorporated into *The 
School Library,' for the care and accuracy with 
which he has superintended the execution of the 
Work, especially in the selection and arrangement of 
the engravings, and for the useful information embod- 
ied in the glossary. 

Union College, 
October, 1840. 



CONTENTS. 



Preface, S 

PART I. 

CHAPTER I. 

Introduction, 9 

CHAPTER 11. 

The Arts dependent on Science, 21 

CHAPTER in. 
Other advantages which the instructed has over the 

uninformed Artisan, 26 

Summary of Principles in Part I., 36 

PART II. 

AGENTS EMPLOYED IN THE ARTS. PAGE 39. 

CHAPTER L 
Chemical Agents, 40 

CHAPTER II. 

Mechanical Agents employed in the Arts, ... 47 

Inertia of Bodies, 48 

Centrifugal Force, 50 

Compound Motion, 51 

Centre of Gravity, 52 

CHAPTER III. 
Mechanical Agents. — Animate Forces, 54 

Inanimate Forces, — Gravity, 56 

1# 



6 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER IV. 

Mechanical Agents. — Inanimate Forces, — Gravity, . 60 

CHAPTER V. 
Mechanical Agents. — Inanimate Forces, — Gravity, . 68 

Elasticity, 71 

CHAPTER VI. 
Mechanical Agents. — Inanimate Forces, — Heat, 

Steam, 75 

CHAPTER VII. 
Machinery employed in the Arts, 87 

Summary of Principles in Part II., 103 



PART III. 

RATIONALE OF THE ARTS. PAGE 107. 

CHAPTER I. 
Agriculture, Chemical, 108 

CHAPTER II. 

Chemical Agriculture, 115 

Mechanical Agriculture, 118 

CHAPTER III. 
Architecture, 121 

CHAPTER IV. 
Architecture continued, 128 

CHAPTER V. 

Manufacture of Cloth, Paper, &c., 137 

CHAPTER VI. 
Cotton Manufacture, 145 

CHAPTER VII. 

Cloth Manufacture. — Paper-making, &c 152 

Chemical processes employed, — Bleaching, . . . 159 

Scouring, and Cleansing, and Dyeing, 101 

Calico-printing, 1^4 



CONTENTS. 7 

CHAPTER VIII. 

The Domestic Arts, 170 

Fermentation, 172 

Distillation, 177 

Culinary Processes, 179 

Management of Milk, 181 

Preserving of Food, 185 

CHAPTER IX. 

Arts of working Metals, Mining, &c., 189 

CHAPTER X. 
The Manufacture of Glass, 199 

CHAPTER XI. 
Pottery and Porcelain, 207 

CHAPTER XII. 

Copying, including Casting, Printing, Engraving, &c. 213 
Dixon's Transfer Process, 228 

CHAPTER XIII. 
Locomotion, 230 

CHAPTER XIV. 

The Progress of the Arts, . 246 

CHAPTER XV. 

Influence of the Useful Arts on National Welfare, 260 



APPENDIX. 
I. 

Nature and Objects of Technology, 293 

II. 

Classification of the Arts, 294 

Mechanical Arts, 295 

Chemical Manufactures, 301 



8 CONTENTS. 

III. 

Connexion of the Useful and Fine Arts, .... 303 

IV. 
The Importance of Science to the Mechanic, . . . 306 

V. 
Progress of English and American Agriculture, . . 325 

VI. 

Improvement in Food, Clothing, and Lodging, . . 343 
England, in the Reign of Elizabeth, 344 

*' in the reign of George II., 349 

Scotland, 351 

United States, 357 

Notices of the mode of Living in England previous to 

Elizabeth, 358 

In reign of Henry VII., 359 

" *' Edward III., 360 

VII. 
Manufacture of American Iron, 376 

VIII. 

Engraving by Galvanic Electricity, 382 

IX. 
Ancient Rate of Travelling, 391 

X. 

Influence of Improvements on Human Welfare, . . 393 

XI. 
Ancient and Modern Philosophy compared, . . . 395 

XII. 
Technological Instruction, 397 

Note on the Cotton Manufacture, 401 

Glossary, 403 

Index, 421 



THE PRINCIPLES 



SCIENCE APPLIED TO THE ARTS. 



PART 1. 



CHAPTER I. 

INTRODUCTION. 

Man, considered with reference merely to his physi- 
cal powers, seems, in many respects, inferior to other 
animals. With less strength and hardihood than some 
of them, he has, at the same time, less fleetness and 
agility than others. He is but imperfectly provided 
with weapons for his defence ; he has no adequate 
means for procuring the subsistence required by his fas- 
tidious taste and delicate constitution ; and, though ten- 
derly alive to the vicissitudes of climate, and dwelling 
in all latitudes, he has not been supplied with that warm 
covering, of fur or wool, which has been bestowed by 
Nature on every other warm-blooded animal. Left, 
therefore, to his bodily powers, man would be, of all 
animals, one of the most defenceless and wretched. 

The story of Robinson Crusoe shows, in a striking 
manner, with what difficulty he maintains even life, 
when deprived of some of his customary tools and 
weapons, and left without the assistance of his fellows. 
Had Crusoe been cast upon the island, naked, and 
without the stores and ammunition which he procured 
from the wreck, he would hardly have been able to live 



10 INTRODUCTION. 

a month.* The same fact is still more strikingly illus- 
trated, by the recent adventures of Ross Cox, who, 
while travelling with a company of traders, in the 
Northwest Territory, was one day, when he had fallen 
asleep, accidentally left by his companions, and not 
found again, till several days after. It happened, that, 
owing to the extreme heat of the weather, he had di- 
vested himself of his weapons, and of nearly all his 
clothing, w hich were carried off by the party. He was 
left, therefore, like other animals, to his natural re- 
sources ; and the picture which he gives, of the extrem- 
ities to which he was quickly reduced, by hunger, by 
the torturing stings of insects, the terror ojf wild beasts, 
and the impossibility of tracing his companions, is equal- 
ly affecting and instructive. It is quite evident, that, 
if he had not been most opportunely found, he must 
soon have perished. 

Yet, in spite of these disadvantages, man has be- 
come, by means of his intelligence, and by cooperating 
with his fellows, the lord of the creation. Surrounded 
with natural powers, which can be pressed into his ser- 
vice, he has been enabled, by his reason to observe 
and comprehend, and by his hand to apply, these pow- 
ers, until, from the weakest and most helpless of ani- 

* Our readers are aware, that this delightful and instructive ro- 
mance of Defoe was founded on the adventures of Alexander Sel- 
kirk, a sailor, who, being at variance with his captain, requested to 
be left on an uninhabited island. He carried with him, besides his 
clothes, a musket, an iron pot, a can, a hatchet, a knife, mathemati- 
cal instruments, and a Bible. His means of support and self-defence, 
therefore, were, to a great extent, artificial. It may possibly be 
objected, that our examples of man's natural imbecility are taken 
from individuals who had once lived in civilized society, and had thus 
been rendered effeminate ; and that we ought rather to adduce the 
case of those who have lived, like animals, only in a state of Nature. 
One or two such individuals have been discovered, within the last 
century, living alone, in forests ; as, for example, Peter, the Wild 
Boy, in Germany, and the Savage ofAvignon, in France. They 
were found, however, in the lowest physical and intellectual condi^ 
tion, subsisting on the bark of trees, unable to distinguish, by touch,, 
between a carved and painted surface, and having hardly a trace of 
humanity. Such cases afford the most conclusive proof, that, as 
me7i, we owe most of our power and dignity to culture. 



INTRODUCTION, 11 

mals, he has become the most powerful and dreaded. 
Not only animals, with their fleetness and strength, but 
even winds, and waves, and heat, and gravity, have 
been trained to obey him ; and, operating by means of 
machinery, they now fabricate for him, almost without 
intervention on his part, the choicest food and raiment ; 
transport him, with the celerity of the deer or the an- 
telope, from place to place ; and surround him with all 
the comforts and conveniences of life.^ 

To designate, generally, the means, by which such 
results have been attained, we employ the term a/t. 
In the earlier periods of society, the useful arts] are 
cultivated chiefly from necessity, and without regular 
principles. The processes are rude, and are extended 
little further than imperious necessity requires. But at 
later periods, when men have leisure to trace the prop- 
erties of matter and the relations of cause and effect ; 
when their wants multiply and become more refined, 
and when time has elapsed, sufficient to furnish them 
with important and well-established principles, these 
processes become more rigorous and scientific. Instead 
of being random experiments, made without forethought, 
and on no definite grounds, they become judicious and 
systematic arrangements, which aim at embodying, in 

* ** The power of man over the nature and amount of vegetable 
and animal productions is scarcely less wonderful. He has changed 
the crab into the apple ; the harsh and astringent sloe into the deli- 
cious plum ; the coarse and bitter seaside brassica into the cauliflow- 
er ; and has improved and augmented the corn-tribes, to an incredi- 
ble extent." These are but examples. In the animal world, it is the 
same. All domestic animals, whether used for food, service, or pleas- 
ure, *' have sprung from a few wild and unattractive species, and have 
been made what they are, in a great degree, by the intervention of 
man. Moreover, the most useful of these varieties of animals have 
been transported by man into every region of the globe to which he 
has himself been able to penetrate." — ProuVs Bridgewater Trea- 
tise. 

t The arts are divided into useful and fine arts. The former 
are so called, because their main object is utility ; whereas the 
principal object of the latter is to gratify imagination and taste. 
Some arts, however, are of a mixed nature, being both useful and 
ornamental. To practise the fine arts, in perfection, requires genius. 
Excellence in the useful arts is more the result of imitation. 



12 INTRODUCTION. 



^ 



a machine or a method, some wellknown law. Thus 
it appears, that, though the useful arts may precede 
science, at first, they will subsequently follow and be 
guided by its light. In whatever proportion the discov- 
eries of philosophers multiply and become practical, in 
just the same proportion will these arts be perfected, 
and the physical resources and enjoyments of mankind 
be increased. Hence the importance of that connexion 
which subsists between the physical sciences and 
the USEFUL ARTS, to illustrate which, will be the princi- 
pal object of the following paiges. 

Few subjects are entitled to more attention, both from 
the student and the practical man. While science has 
been too prone to abstract researches, too much inclined 
to keep aloof from the haunts of business and industry, 
the arts, on the other hand, have been too well content 
with rules, adopted empirically, and followed blindly 
and without reflection. The pursuits of the scholar 
and the artisan, which have really the same object in 
view, and which ought to have been prosecuted in uni- 
son, have not only been kept apart, but have been the 
subjects of mutual suspicion and ridicule. The phi- 
losopher has looked down upon the labors of the arti- 
san as sordid and degrading. The artisan, in his turn, 
has ridiculed the speculations of the philosopher as 
visionary and unprofitable. The result of this two-fold 
misconception has been pernicious in the extreme. 

In the first place, it has tended to render the labors 
of science barren and useless ; causing them, at one 
time, to be wasted on frivolous subjects, and, at anoth- 
er, to reject or undervalue the aid of practical and me- 
chanical skill. It has yet more frequently, perhaps, 
impaired the success of the practical man, persuading 
him to persist in employing expensive, circuitous, and 
ineffectual, methods, for attaining that, to which science 
would have conducted him by a short and easy path. 
One of our objects, in the present Work, will be, to ex- 
pose the consequences of this misconception, and to 
show, at the same time, that the study and the work- 



INTRODUCTION. 13 

shop ought to stand side by side, and carry forward 
their labors in conjunction ; the one being employed in 
investigating principles, the other, in applying them ; 
that science has performed but half her work, unless 
she has deduced from her discoveries some useful art 
or invention ; and that art has never mastered even its 
own processes, until it has become master of the rea- 
sons as well as of the details. 

Nor is it the man of science, nor the practical man, 
alone, for whom this subject ought to have interest. It 
has claims upon all persons engaged in liberal studies, 
and especially upon those, who, in this age of enter- 
prise and invention, are in a course of elementary edu- 
cation. Our houses are filled, and our persons covered, 
with the most curious and useful productions of the 
arts. Ought we to remain ignorant of the processes 
by which they are fabricated ? Above all, ought we to 
be ignorant of the physical laws on which their fabrica- 
tion depends? In such processes, man is but the hum- 
ble agent. The mighty power, which works out the 
result, resides in nature, where it has been planted, and 
is continually sustained, by the Divine hand. There it 
operates, with silent but ceaseless activity, and, while 
moulded, in some slight degree, to our purposes, and 
employed in supplying our wants, is carrying on, over 
wider scenes, its mighty operations ; imparting its in- 
fluence to the whole body of the earth, and air, and sea ; 
extending its sway, perhaps, over other planets and sys- 
tems, and contributing to sustain and carry forward the 
order of the whole material world. That power, for 
instance, which keeps our planet in its course, and 
moves forward all the parts of the solar system in one 
unceasing and harmonious round, is the very same 
power which gives mechanical value to a waterfall, 
causes the plumb-line to take a vertical direction, first 
raises the vapor which forms the clouds, and then brings 
it back, in gentle dews and fertilizing showers, to glad- 
den the thirsty soil ! And this is but one of a thous- 
and instances. How interesting, then, to trace these 

2 S. A. 



14 INTRODUCTION. 

principles, as they thus operate, at the same moment, 
through the vast mechanism of Nature and in the mi- 
nute contrivances of man ; to see that, while they as- 
sist in wheeling planets and suns through their mighty 
and '' unshaken rounds," they are, at the same moment, 
performing for men the humblest offices of service ! fit 
emblems of that Being, for whom nothing is too vast, 
nothing too minute ! of that Jesus, who, while charged 
with a world's deliverance from sin and death, could 
still condescend to manufacture wine for the marriage- 
feast of the poor, and to wash the feet of his lowly 
disciples ! 

Independent, however, of the interest which this sub- 
ject must possess, for every liberal and inquiring mind, 
it has claims of a more urgent nature. It is a fact, 
generally overlooked, but none the less true, that hardly 
any branch of science can be studied, nor any profes- 
sion prosecuted with advantage, without some acquaint- 
ance with the theory, economy, and history, of the 
Useful Arts. Take the Mathematical and Physical 
Sciences, for example. As generally studied by the 
young, they present to the mind little else than abstrac- 
tions ; principles, which seem too vague and too far- 
fetched, to be brought down to the " business and bo- 
soms of men." Hence, the lassitude with which they 
are pursued, and the sad facility with which they are 
forgotten. How different would it be, if the pupil were 
early accustomed to trace these principles to their prac- 
tical applications ; if, from the school or lecture-room, 
he were conducted to the shop or the manufactory, 
and were there to see these principles toiling in man's 
service, and becoming most efficient contributors to his 
welfare ! This course is actually adopted, in many of 
the schools of Germany and France ; and the conse- 
quence is seen in the quickened interest, the increased 
precision, and stronger grasp, of the pupil's mind. He 
sees, hears, feels, that these Laws of Nature are no 
barren generalities, but are most powerful and useful 
agents ; that art succeeds only so far as she observes 



INTRODUCTION. 15 

and respects these Laws ; and that the highest and 
most benignant triumphs of human industry are equal- 
ly the triumphs of Nature, and of that science, whose 
province it is to interpret Nature. 

Does the student weary, then, over the theorems of 
his Euclid, or the formulae of his Algebra ? Let him 
be taught how these very theorems and formulae are 
employed by the engineer, in his nice adjustments and 
calculations ; by the mariner, as he shapes his unerring 
course across the trackless sea ; by the astronomer, as 
he passes the limits of this Kttle earth, seems to set 
his foot on the most distant planet, and takes measure 
of its size, its density, and the span of its orbit. A sin- 
gle property of similar triangles, which, to the mere stu- 
dent of the Elements, looks like matter only for trivial 
curiosity, is found, by the student of the arts, to be the 
seminal and prolific principle, out of which has grown 
the whole theory of trigonometrical measurement, 
whether applied to common surveying, to the measure- 
ment of an arc of the meridian, or to determining those 
vast distances which separate us from the remotest and 
most erratic members of the solar system. It is the 
same with Chemistry and Mechanical Philosophy. In- 
struct them in their uses, as well as in their theory, and 
they will no longer seem but a tissue of hard names and 
dreary abstractions. They will be seen to shed their 
concentrated light over the humblest processes of the 
artisan, and to open before him prospects of improve- 
ment, as interminable, in extent, as they are animating, 
in their influence. 

Nor is it only to the student of physical and mathe- 
matical science, that the study of the useful arts offers 
this advantage. If, from the study of Nature you turn 
your attention to the constitution of society, to the laws 
which regulate its progress and welfare, you will find, 
even there, that acquaintance with the economy and 
history of the useful arts is beneficial, both in guard- 
ing the mind from error, and in revealing the true prin- 
ciples which have governed the past, and must inevi- 



16 INTRODUCTION. 

tably control the future. Is it, for instance, Political 
Economy that you would master, — the causes which 
regulate the production, distribution, and consumption, 
of wealth ? Would you ever bear in mind, too, that 
the ultimate end of a sound and benevolent economy 
is not so much wealth, as welfare ; not so much the 
accumulation of material products, as the multiplica- 
tion of all those means and appliances which tend to 
raise man in the scale, as well of moral and intellectual, 
as of physical, being ; that wealth is not an end, but 
only one of the means, of national, as it is of individual, 
improvement ; and that the industrious classes, being 
the most numerous, in a State, and therefore the most 
important, their advancement is to be the great object 
of the statesman's pohcy ? Yes ? Would you write 
deep upon your minds and hearts these great but neg- 
lected principles ? Go to the forge and the workshop. 
Study, in their economy and theory, and also in their 
history, those arts which are the real agents in produc- 
ing and distributing wealth. See where other nations 
have erred in fostering them, leaving men to decay, if 
the arts could but flourish ; taxing labor, instead of 
capital, — the necessaries, instead of the luxuries, of life ; 
and degrading the human soul, with all its intelligence 
and immortality, into a mere appendage to machinery. 
Learn how the artisan is to be protected against the 
evils incident to inventions and improvement, while, at 
the same time, you teach him that his permanent wel- 
fare is promoted by these very inventions ; that his in- 
terests are bound up with those of the wealthiest capi- 
talist ; and that he needs nothing but intelligence and 
virtue, to enable him, in this land of freedom, to reap 
his rightful share of profit and advancement. 

Our limits do not permit us to enumerate all the re- 
spects in which a study of the useful arts is calculated 
to shed light over other departments of human inqui- 
ry. History needs its aid, in tracing the progress of 
man, from barbarism to civilization ; from the darkness 
of ignorance or tradition, and the coarseness of unbri- 



INTRODUCTION. 17 

died sensuality, to the benign light of literature and 
the conscious dignity and refinement of moral freedom. 
Poetry needs its aid, in supplying illustrations to arrest 
the ever-varying taste of a busy and excited age ; and 
even theology, though conversant only with high and 
holy tilings, need not disdain to borrow lessons from 
this humble and unpretending source. Yes ; let not 
him, who is given to sacred studies or devout contem- 
plation, turn away from the useful arts, as though they 
were silent in the services of God, or '^ yielded but faint 
praise." They tell of man's organization, which has 
fitted him so admirably for the fabrication of instru- 
ments and the labors of industry. They tell of that 
gift, which attests the agency of Infinite wisdom and 
power ; exhaustless ingenuity, — an ingenuity which is 
ever multiplying expedients to vanquish time and space, 
to subdue refractory substances, and to transform into 
useful and pliable agents the wildest and most stormy 
elements of Nature. They suggest a comparison, — 
how greatly to the honor of the Creator ! — between the 
mimic processes of human art and those boundless 
movements which are ever going forward, silently but 
harmoniously, through the regions of space. 

Nor let it be thought that it is the student, alone, 
who would profit by an acquaintance with this branch 
of knowledge. To say nothing, in this place, of the 
mechanic and artisan, where is there a profession, 
the members of which could not profit by studying the 
application of science to the arts ? The merchant, for 
example, would evidently be aided, when he traffics in 
the products of these arts, by understanding the prin- 
ciples which regulate the manufacture of them, the 
changes and improvement which are making in that 
manufacture, and the causes which are likely, from time 
to time, to vary the supply or demand. The lawyer is 
often called to defend or impugn the validity of patents, 
to litigate contracts made between mechanics and their 
employers, or to try causes involving the operations of 
a machine or the management of a factory. Can he 
2* 



18 INTRODUCTION. 

hope to do justice to his cHents or to his own character, 
unless he can seize with readiness upon the principles 
and language appropriate to the case, and employ them 
with judgement and skill ? The same thing is yet more 
strikingly true, in many other pursuits ; and I hazard 
httle, in saying, that there is, in the present age, scarce- 
ly an employment, to which a man can devote his tal- 
ents or his capital, that does not call for some acquaint- 
ance with the theory, as well as with the practice, of 
the useful arts. 

Entertaining these views of the importance of our 
subject, we shall endeavor to discuss it, in a manner 
which will interest all classes of readers. It will be 
our main object, in the following papers, to exhibit the 
arts as dependent on principles, as being, in fact, the 
practical results of the discoveries which have been 
made in the various departments of physical science. 
It is said of Lord Bacon, that, having collected a great 
number of books on Gardening and Rural affairs, and 
finding them destitute of the information he sought, he 
caused them all to be piled up in his court-yard, and set 
on fire ; uttering, at the same time, these memorable 
words : '^ In all these books, I find no pj^indples ; they 
can therefore be of no use to any man." To shield this 
humble Work from condemnation, on such grounds, 
has been the Author's special aim ; and he has also 
endeavored, by bringing into prominent view the laws, 
on which processes in the arts depend, to establish the 
claim of these arts to be ranked among the subjects of 
liberal and academical study. At the same time, it has 
been his desire to treat the subject in a manner calcu- 
lated to interest persons engaged in the various mechan- 
ical and chemical arts, and in agricultural pursuits. 
The time has arrived, when knowledge will more sure- 
ly command success, than at any former period of the 
world ; and when, without knowledge, no practical man 
can be secure of permanent success. The Author will 
have more than attained his object, if, on the one hand, 
he can succeed in impressing, upon any considerable 



INTRODUCTION. 19 

number of minds, the great importance of taking prac- 
tical views of science ; or, on the other, if he can impart, 
to persons engaged in the arts, any useful hints, respect- 
ing the principles and processes with which they are 
called to deal. 

This Treatise is divided into three parts. 

The first part is devoted to illustrating, by argument 
and historical facts, the Dependence of the Arts on 
Science. 

The second part treats of the Principal Agents, 
Mechanical and Chemical, which are employed in the 
Arts ; and also of the Elements of Machinery, 

The third part exhibits, briefly, and in connexion with 
their rationale, the principal operations in Agriculture, 
Architecture, Cloth Manufacture, The Domestic Arts, 
Metallurgy, &c. &c. 

It may not be improper, in closing this Chapter, to 
remark, that, in giving to the arts, under consideration, 
the customary name of useful arts, we would by no 
means intimate, that they alone are useful, or that they 
are preeminently so. Such arts, after all, belong to the 
world without us. It is their province to apply the laws 
of matter, which have been discovered by science, so as 
to change, for some useful purpose, the form, position, or 
internal structure of masses of matter. Creations though 
they are, of mind, and proud monuments of its exhaust- 
less ingenuity, their immediate and most palpable use is 
only to increase the outward or physical comforts and 
accommodations of mankind. But there are arts, — 
sometimes called the Liberal Arts, — the direct object 
of which is, to move and elevate mind ! which, for ex- 
ample, would enlighten reason, gratify taste, fill the 
iinagination with visions of ideal beauty or greatness, 
and incite the will to high and holy resolve. Of this 
class are. Education, which proposes to develope and 
discipline, in due proportion, the various powers and 
susceptibilities of the soul ; Eloquence, which, employ- 
ing language as its instrument, would act on the con- 



20 INTRODUCTION. 

duct and sentiments of men, through the medium of 
their reason, taste, feehngs, and fancy ; Government^ 
which aims to give such direction to the energies of 
men, Uving together as pohtical societies, as will fulfil 
the demands of justice, and best promote the '-greatest 
happiness of the greatest number ;" and finally, poetry, 
painting, music, and the like fine arts, as they are call- 
ed, — ^which would move, to their lowest depths, the foun- 
tains of thought and feeling that are lodged within us. 
These, it is evident, are supremely useful, since they 
touch our highest and most enduring interests, and speak, 
at the same time, to our most generous sensibilities. 

It is a fact, worthy of much more consideration than 
it has yet received, that each of these arts, too, is found- 
ed on science ; that, as the physical arts can be carried 
to their utmost perfection, only by those who are well 
versed in the laws that govern the material world, so the 
liberal arts can be successfully cultivated and illustrated, 
only by those who have profoundly studied man ; who 
have gazed, with enlightened and admiring eye, on that 
masterpiece of Divine wisdom, — the human soul, with 
its capabilities, its untiring energies, its restless longings 
after the beautiful and good, its Protean versatility of 
thought, feehng, and action. As the (so-called) useful 
arts are but the practical application, to physical pur- 
poses, of mechanics and chemistry, so the liberal arts 
are but the carrying out, to definite moral results, of a 
higher philosophy, — the philosophy of human nature : 
and he alone is qualified to practise, — nay, he alone is 
qualified thoroughly to appreciate and enjoy them, who, 
to practical skill, has added an intimate knowledge of 
the workings of the human heart, both in individuals 
and in societies. We may take occasion, hereafter, 
to enlarge upon this truth, and enforce it by suitable 
illustrations. We notice it, at present, merely that we 
may guard against the supposition, that the arts, now 
under consideration, because called useful, are so, alone ; 
and that the liberal and fine arts are only fitted to 
amuse, or, at the best, to embellish and refine. 



THE ARTS DEPENDENT ON SCIENCE. 21 

CHAPTER II. 

THE ARTS DEPENDENT ON SCIENCE. 

It is the maxim of a prudent man, always to keep 
the law on his side. While he does so, it aids him in 
his labors, and protects him in the enjoyment of his 
blessings. Now, what is true of human laws, is yet 
more eminently true of those natural laws which the 
Creator has impressed on material substances. These 
laws are absolute and immutable. They cannot bend 
to suit the convenience or exigencies of men ; nor can 
they be violated, without inflicting on the transgressor 
certain injury. And operating, as they do, on every 
side of us, and serving to determine the properties of 
every object and the results of every movement, they 
cannot even be neglected with impunity. Under their 
direction, the mechanism of Nature moves forward, with 
uniform and irresistible energy. They resemble a mighty 
engine, which, if rightly managed, — that is, according to 
its nature and properties, — may be made to work out the 
most wonderful and important results ; but which, if 
mismanaged, will inflict on him who attempts to guide 
it, only injury and loss. 

But these laws, the proper application of which to 
human uses is so important and yet so delicate, can be 
ascertained only through Science, Science explores the 
hidden mechanism of Nature, and discovers by what 
laws it is regulated. It traces out the order which the 
Deity has established in His works, and shows how this 
order may be made subservient to the purposes of man. 
Art avails itself of this knowledge, arranges its mate- 
rials according to these natural laws, and endeavors to 
effect, on a small scale, what the Creator is constantly 
effecting throughout His material empire. To attempt 
an arrangement, without such knowledge, would be like 
attempting to superintend the movements of a steam- 



22 THE ARTS DEPENDENT ON SCIENCE. 

engine, while ignorant of its nature and powers. What 
should we expect, if the engineering of our steam-boats 
were committed to men who had never examined nor 
studied their machinery ? Should we not feel that the 
lives of the passengers were in peril ? Should we not 
fear that serious if not fatal derangements would inevi- 
tably take place, and that such derangements would 
hardly, if ever, be repaired ? What better can we ex- 
pect of those, who, in any of the arts, attempt to em- 
ploy powers or properties of which they are ignorant ? 
What shall prevent them from attempting things^ 
which, in their very nature, are impossible ? or from 
employing means inadequate or actually opposed to 
the end they have in view 1 or from adopting tedious, 
expensive, and laborious, methods of accomplishing 
their purposes, instead of those which are short, eco- 
nomical, and easy 1 or, finally, from leaving unat- 
tempted, what, with proper knowledge, they might not 
only have attempted, but have accomplished without 
difficulty 1 

" Knowledge is power." Instruct the artisan in the 
powers and principles of Nature, and he can always 
employ them in the cheapest and most effectual man- 
ner. But ignorance has no security from error. If 
right, it is right only by accident, or by following some 
arbitrary rule ; and, since accident is subject to no rule, 
and arbitrary rules must often fail, through some defect 
in themselves or their application, it follows, that fail- 
ures must often occur, unnecessarily. Ignorance, there- 
fore, is weakness. If the weakness be not observed 
by others, or felt by the artisan himself, it is only be- 
cause he and his employers are alike uninstructed. It 
must be apparent to every mind, that, if the physician 
were unacquainted with the structure and functions of 
the body, if he knew little of the nature of diseases or 
of the properties of medicinal substances, his art would 
become the art of killing, rather than of curing. But 
there is surely little more quackery, in attempting to treat 
an animal system, of the nature of which we are igno- 



THE ARTS DEPENDENT ON SCIENCE. 23 

rant, than there is in undertaking to manage inanimate 
agents, respecting which we are equally ignorant. It 
can savor but little more of presumption, for a man, who 
is unacquainted with anatomy, to undertake the treat- 
ment of complicated fractures or dangerous wounds, than 
it does for him, who understands neither the laws of 
motion nor the principles of machinery, to offer to con- 
struct or repair a complicated engine or instrument. 
In some cases, both may succeed ; and, since the struc- 
ture of most machines is less intricate than that of a 
limb, it is not to be doubted, that the uninstructed ar- 
tisan will succeed more frequently than the uninstruct- 
ed surgeon. But instances will often occur, in which 
both must fail. The limited knowledge acquired from 
experience will not reach the case, and the operator is 
left to the mortifying alternative, of trying random ex- 
periments or of declining to act. 

It will not be inferred, we trust, from these remarks, 
that we undervalue the aid which may be derived, by 
practical men, from experience. We know, that, by 
means of it, they acquire a skill which no books can 
communicate, and without which the most extensive 
theoretical knowledge would be of little avail. Nor is 
it my purpose to institute a comparison between the 
relative values of science and experience^ in cases where 
only one can be attained. In the present age, and in 
our country, both can be had. While the apprentice 
is receiving the practical directions of his master ; while 
he is habituating his eye to watch, and his hand to 
guide, the various processes of his art ; he may, at the 
same time, be studying the principles on which that 
art depends. In every process, he avails himself of 
some law of Nature. That law he may be made to 
cpmprehend ; and we maintain, that, having been made 
to comprehend it, having ascertained the general and 
universal principles on which his operations depend, 
together with such collateral knowledge as he can gath- 
er, with ease, from works on popular science, he will 
have a vast advantage over the artist who works merely 



24 THE ARTS DEPENDENT ON SCIENCE. 



1 



from experience or by arbitrary rule. These advanta- 
ges we propose to specify. 

I. In the first place, he will be prepared fo7^ a greater 
number of emergencies. However great the experience 
of the artisan, it cannot but happen, that he will meet, 
in practice, many cases which are new. Some change 
in the quality of his materials, or in the construction of 
his tools, or some new fact developed in the course of 
his operations, will place him in a situation hitherto un- 
tried. His master's directions will not avail him, for 
they never contemplated such a case. His own expe- 
rience will not suffice, for it reaches to no such contin- 
gency. One of those books, called Guides for carpen- 
ters, masons, &c., will not answer, for it gives only ar- 
bitrary rules for such cases as have fallen under the 
immediate eye of the author or of his informers. Whith- 
er, then, shall he resort ? If he attempt to investigate 
the problem for himself, and find some solution, it is an 
attempt for which he is disqualified by his previous 
habits. Instead of being accustomed to reflect upon 
his own labors, to investigate the reasons, the why and 
the wherefore of them, he has gone through them me- 
chanically, like a dray horse ; he has never even dream- 
ed that they could furnish occasion for sober and intense 
study. If, aroused for the first time to this truth, he 
sets himself to reflect closely upon the case before him, 
he has, to guide his inquiries, no knowledge, either of 
the laws which occasion this novel difficulty, or of 
those other laws, which might have furnished a remedy. 

Suppose, for instance, that a farmer, accustomed to 
till a certain soil, were to remove, where he is called to 
deal with one entirely different. Having found, on his 
first farms, that plaster, and certain systems of culture, 
were profitable, he will proceed, if he be one of your 
practical farmers, who trusts entirely to experience, and 
laughs at book-learning, to employ the same system 
here. But perhaps it is without success. His plaster 
seems to kill vegetation, and his system of culture ends 
in a meager crop. Now, what shall he do ? Neither 



THE ARTS DEPENDENT ON SCIENCE. 25 

his own experience, nor any rules that he has heard, 
from his father or his neighbors, prepare him for such 
an emergency ; and very possibly his new neighbors 
have not yet discovered the proper mode of treating 
the soil which they cultivate. His only alternative, 
therefore, is to work on, at random, trying one experi- 
ment after another, having no principle to guide, no 
precise object to direct, his course ; and expending 
money and toil, perhaps for years, without success. 

The uninstructed artist, therefore, is not prepared for 
new emergencies. He can move only in one dull rou- 
tine ; and over that, he travels almost without observa- 
tion or thought. If he had been accustomed, however, 
from youth, to regard the processes of his art as speci- 
mens of yet more extensive operations, which God is 
carrying on, throughout all Nature ; as examples of 
comprehensive principles, which are at work in all 
places and at all times, and which embrace innumera- 
ble other instances, generally though not precisely sim- 
ilar, he would not have been so easily baffled. Hav- 
ing studied and mastered the great laws on which his 
art depends, he would be prepared for difficulties, and 
often would have converted into sources of profit, what 
has now proved only the occasion of defeat and dis- 
appointment. He would have found, in science, not 
merely the experience of his instructers or predeces- 
sors in the same art ; but the experience of all 

MANKIND, BOTH PHILOSOPHERS AND ARTISANS. The 

very object of science is, to present us with the result 
of all their observations and experiments, on any given 
subject, embodied in the simplest and most regular 
form. 

Take the farmer, for example, to whom we have just 
referred. Had he been acquainted with a small work 
of Sir H. Davy's, entitled ' the Principles of Agricultu- 
ral Chemistry,' or with a similar work, by Chaptal, he 
would have learned, that the treatment of soils, by ma- 
nure, is a chemical process ; that the manure required 
by any soil depends upon the constituents of that soil, 

3 ♦ S. A. 



26 THE ARTS DEPENDENT ON SCIENCE. 

and the proportion in which they are combined ; and 
that it is in the power of the chemist, if to his scientific 
knowledge he adds experience, to determine, before- 
hand, the proper quahty and quantity of the manure 
which ought to be appUed in any given case. So with 
the gardener, who, laboring in a particular district, has 
seen great benefits result from the mixture of different 
soils. On removing to another district, he would nat- 
urally expect, if he relied solely on his experience, to 
find similar effects from the same mixture. But, if he 
be a scientific gardener, he will be careful, before re- 
sorting to that mixture, to examine his new soil, both 
on the surface and at some depth. He will find out 
whether it has the same essential qualities ; and if not, 
he will endeavor to ascertain what are its characteristic 
excellences and defects, and then determine, by the 
apphcation of chemical principles, what mixture of soil, 
or what sort of manure, is requisite. 



CHAPTER HI. 



OTHER ADVANTAGES WHICH THE INSTRUCTED HAS OVER THE 
UNINSTRUCTED ARTISAN. 

n. A second and most important advantage, enjoy- 
ed by the artisan who combines science with practical 
skill, is the command which it gives him over sim- 
pler, cheaper, and more certain, methods of attaining 
his ends. It may be affirmed, we believe, with entire 
safety, that there is no art, the processes of which are 
yet reduced to their utmost simplicity. Not only are 
inventions, at their first introduction, encumbered with 
much that is extraneous and unnecessary, but even pro- 
cesses, which have been transmitted from age to age, 
instead of becoming more simple, appear, in many 
cases, to have gathered intricacy from time. Take, for 
example, the manufacture of soap, one of the most sim- 



THE ARTS DEPENDENT ON SCIENCE. 27 

pie as well as ancient of arts. It is capable of demon- 
stration^ that this process, as generally conducted, is de- 
fective in several respects ; and that, by substituting, in 
some cases, different materials, and in others, new modes 
of treating them, an essential saving might be realized, 
both of materials and time. 

Another cause, which seriously interferes with success 
in the arts, is, the spurious quality of many of the sub- 
stances employed. Without some means of detecting 
adulterations, the artist must often use substances defi- 
cient in the qualities required, and of course his results 
must be uncertain and unsatisfactory. Now, all these 
difficulties might be obviated, by a moderate acquaint- 
ance with chemistry and mechanical philosophy. These 
sciences suggest simple but yet certain means for test- 
ing the purity of substances, and they point out, at the 
same time, the shortest path to any required object. 
How wonderfully have the processes of bleaching, 
and tanning, and sugar-refining, been simplified and 
abridged, since they first attracted the attention of 
chemists ! What immense improvements are constant- 
ly taking place, in the machinery of our large factories ! 
Indeed, there is no department of life, in which a know- 
ledge of science does not serve to simplify and improve 
our operations. '^ Though a man," says Lord Brougham, 
'' be neither a mechanic nor a peasant, but only has a 
pot to boil, he is sure to learn, from science, lessons, 
which will enable him to cook his morsel better, save 
his fuel, and both vary his dish and improve it." The 
art of good and cheap cookery is intimately connected 
with the principles of chemical philosophy, and has re- 
ceived much, and will yet receive more, improvement, 
from their applications. It will be sufficient, under 
this head, to add two other illustrations, which we bor- 
row from Mr. Herschel's admirable ' Discourse on the 
study of Natural Philosophy.' 

^^In the granite quarries, near Seringapatam, the 
most enormous blocks are separated from the solid rock, 
by the following neat and simple process. The work- 



28 THE ARTS DEPENDENT ON SCIENCE. 

man, having found a portion of the rock sufficiently 
extensive, and situated near the edge of the part already 
quarried, lays bare the upper surface, and marks on it a 
line, in the direction of the intended separation, along 
which a gioove is cut, with a chisel, about a couple of 
inches in depth. Above this groove, a narrow line of 
fire is then kindled, and maintained till the rock below 
is thoroughly heated, immediately on which, a line of 
men and women, each provided with a pot full of cold 
water, suddenly sweep off the ashes, and pour the wa- 
ter into the heated groove, when the rock at once splits, 
with a clean fracture. Square blocks, of six feet in the 
side and upwards of eighty feet in length, are some- 
times detached, by this method, or by another equally 
simple and efficacious, but not easily explained, without 
entering into particulars of mineralogical detail." 

'' Hardly less simple and efficacious is the process, 
used in some parts of France, where millstones are 
made. When a mass of stone, sufficiently large, is 
found, it is cut into a cylinder, several feet high, and 
the question then arises, how to subdivide this into hor- 
izontal pieces, so as to make as many millstones. For 
this purpose, horizontal indentations, or grooves, are 
chiselled out, quite round the cylinder, at distances cor- 
responding to the thickness intended to be given to the 
millstones, into which wedges of dried wood are driven. 
These are then wetted or exposed to the nightdew ; 
and next morning, the difTerent pieces are found sepa- 
rated from each other, by the expansion of the wood, 
consequent on its absorption of moisture ; an irresistible 
natural power thus accomplishing, almost without any 
trouble and at no expense, an operation, which, from 
the peculiar hardness and texture of the stone, would 
otherwise be impracticable, but by the most powerful 
machinery, or the most persevering labor." 

III. A thir^d advantage, which the practical man de- 
rives from science, is, that it enables him to appreciate 
proposed improvements. The arts of the present age 
are characterized by nothing more striking, than by 



THE ARTS DEPENDENT ON SCIENCE. 29 

their rapid and almost incredible progress.* Competi- 
tion is so eager, and economy in operations so indis- 
pensable, that there is a perpetual tasking of the human 
intellect, to invent some cheaper, neater, or more rapid, 
combination. Hence it is, that one improvement is 
scarcely introduced, before another supersedes it. A 
thousand minds are engaged, perhaps at the same time, 
in the earnest pursuit of some contrivance, which will 
enable them to save a small fraction in the cost of pro- 
duction ; and such contrivance, when once discovered, 
must either be adopted by all, or be the means of di- 
verting to its fortunate proprietor the entire profits of 
the trade. It becomes, therefore, an object of the ut- 
most importance to the mechanic and manufacturer, 
to be able, when a new method is proposed, to judge 
intelligently of its claims. He is to be equally on his 
guard against the skepticism which unhesitatingly con- 
demns all new systems, and adheres, most pertinacious- 
ly, to whatever is old ; and against that credulity which 
is ready to yield a blind and implicit assent to the 
promises of interested projectors. But nothing, evi- 
dently, can save him from one or other of these ex- 
tremes, but that knowledge of principles, which will 
enable him to weigh the reasons for any proposed im- 
provement, and to estimate its probable value. And 
as such knowledge is necessary, that he may appreci- 
ate improvements,! so is it necessary to assist him in 

* The increasing powers of the steam-loom are shown in the fol- 
lowing statement, furnished by a manufacturer. 

** A very good hand-weaver , twenty-five or thirty years of age, will 
weave two pieces of 9-8ths shirting a week. 

** In 1823, a steam-loom weaver, about fifteen years of age, attend- 
ing two looms, could weave seven similar pieces in a week. 

*' In 1826, a steam-loom weaver, about fifteen years of age, attend- 
ing two looms, could weave twelve similar pieces in a week ; some, 
could wea.\e fifteen pieces. 

'* In 1833, a steam-loom weaver, from fifteen to twenty years of 
age, assisted by a girl, about twelve years of age, attending four 
looms, could weave eighteen similar pieces in a week ; some could 
weave twenty pieces." 

t Dr. Ure states, in his Philosophy of Manufactures, that *' pro- 
digious sums are wastefully expended, every year, by manufacturers, 

3# 



30 THE ARTS DEPENDENT ON SCIENCE. 

introducing and applying them. In the present state 
of the arts, and especially of important branches of 
manufacture, it is no longer safe, says Judge Story, to 
be ignorant. '' It is not mere dexterity of hand, or 
mechanical adroitness or industry, that can secure to 
an individual a successful issue in his business. With- 
out some science, to master improvements, as they oc- 
cur, and to keep up, in a measure, with the spirit of the 
age, it w^ill often happen that a mechanic, before he has 
reached the middle of life, will find himself superseded 
by those who, though much younger, have begun life 
under more favorable auspices." 

A fourth advantage which science gives the instruct- 
ed over the uninstructed artisan is, that it enables him 
to become an improver of the art at lohich he works, 
and even a discoverer in the sciences connected ivith it. 
He is daily handhng the tools and materials, with which 
new experiments are to be made, and daily witnessing 
the operations of Nature, whether in the motions and 
pressure of bodies, or in their chemical actions on each 
other. All opportunities of making experiments must 
be unimproved, all appearances must pass unobserved, 
if the artist has no knowledge of principles ; but, with 
this knowledge, he, of all men, is most likely to strike 
out something new, which may be useful in art, or cu- 
rious and interesting to science.^ His practised eye 
and dexterous hand enable him to embrace the many 
opportunities afforded him for such improvements ; 
and, if he labors in a large manufactory, both the 
motive and opportunity to make them are peculiarly 
great. The processes being on a large scale, and con- 

which would be saved by a more thorough acquaintance with the 
principles of science and art," which apply to their business ; that 
** crafty projectors are perpetually pressing hazardous innovations 
upon their adoption," and that he '* has known not a few cases, 
where a complete system of good machines, capable of doing excel- 
lent work, had been capriciously turned out of a cotton factory, and 
replaced by another, of greater expense, but of less productive pow- 
ers." 

♦See Brougham's Discourse on the Advantages of Science. 



THE ARTS DEPENDENT ON SCIENCE. 31 

sequently very expensive, it becomes the more impor- 
tant to devise means of saving material and labor, while 
the very magnitude of these processes often brings out 
facts and principles which, in ordinary operations, 
would have remained imperceptible. But the impor- 
tance, in this respect, of scientific attainments will be- 
come more apparent, if we consider the following qual- 
ifications, which are absolutely necessary to enable any 
one to become the author of important improvements 
in the arts. 

I. He must know enough of the laws of Nature, 
not to attempt impossibilities. Nature itself has placed 
insuperable difficulties in the way of many of the ob- 
jects which have exercised the ingenuity, and wasted 
the property and lives, of ardent but ignorant inquirers. 
Who, for example, that were acquainted with the laws 
of chemical composition, or with the physical constitu- 
tion of man, would have spent their lives and fortunes, 
as the alchymists did, in the pursuit of the philoso- 
pher's stone, or the elixir of life 1 Who, that under- 
stands the laws of motion and gravitation, would ever 
hope to invent perpetual motion, or a machine to mul- 
tiply force and velocity at the same time ? How many 
monuments of the ignorance of their projectors do we 
find in the models of a patent-office, and indeed in 
many of the undertakings of common life ! One man 
attempts what the laws of Nature have peremptorily 
forbidden. Another attempts an object, practicable in 
itself, but by means totally inadequate or inappropriate. 
This one opens a mine, establishes machinery, and ex- 
pends a hundred thousand dollars, to discover, — what a 
geologist would have told him at the outset, — that no 
pre can be obtained. Another man proposes to in- 
crease the heat of his furnace, by forcing in steam in- 
stead of air, and the result is, that the fire, instead of 
being increased, is blown out ; a result which a slight 
knowledge of chemistry would have prepared him to 
expect. A third projector prepares a vessel^ for sub- 

* See page 74. 



32 THE ARTS DEPENDENT ON SCIENCE. 

marine examinations ; but, not estimating, properly, 
the pressure of water, at different depths, is crushed to 
death during the first experiment. How important, 
then, to gather from science the hght necessary to pro- 
tect us from the delusions of an excited imagination, 
and to guide us in the way of safe and profitable en- 
terprise ! 

II. When occupied with inventions, in any depart- 
ment of the arts, the inventor ought to be informed of 
the improvements which have been already made in 
that department ; otherwise, he may consume his time, 
labor, and money, in merely reproducing what has long 
existed ; and that, too, perhaps, in a preferable form. 

III. He must have sufficient acquaintance with the 
sciences related to his pursuits, to resolve the various 
questions which will occur, in the progress of an inven- 
tion. It is obvious, that, after the first and most im- 
portant step is taken, in the inventive process ; after 
the important principle has been mastered, and light 
seems to shed itself over the whole inquiry ; many ob- 
stacles are still to be overcome, many unexpected diffi- 
culties are to be met, many toilsome days and nights 
consumed in nice adjustments and alterations. In 
some instances, utter failure has resulted, at this stage 
of the process, for the want of the requisite knowledge ; 
and in others, important inventions have been arrested 
and painfully delayed, from the same cause. It is stat- 
ed, that, after Fulton had securely achieved, in his own 
opinion, the invention of the steam-boat, months were 
consumed by him in making the necessary calculations 
upon the resistance of fluids, in order to ascertain what 
was the best form of the boat, to secure a successful 
issue to his experiment. It is also stated, by Judge 
Story,* who, in the course of his judicial labors, has 
had occasion to examine the history of the card- 
machine of Whittemore, and of the nail-machine in- 
vented by Perkins, that half the labors of those ex- 

* See Lecture before the Boston Mechanics' Institution, November, 
1829. 



THE ARTS DEPENDENT ON SCIENCE. 66 

traordinary men would have been saved, if they had 
been originally instructed in the principles of mechani- 
cal science. " It is certain/^ he adds, " that, with his 
later acquirements in science, one of them would not 
have laid aside, for a long time, the creations of his 
own genius, as if in despair that it could ever attain 
maturity." If it be objected, here, that inventions are 
often made by men unacquainted with science, we 
may admit it, without impairing, materially, the force 
of our argument. Accident will sometimes cast up 
important improvements, in such a way, that the artist 
can hardly fail to seize upon them. It will generally 
be found, however, even in these cases, that the inven- 
tion is not matured, without the aid of the man of sci- 
ence. But, in a large proportion of instances, improve- 
ments are not only perfected, but originally made, by 
him. It has often happened, that substances and 
processes, though brought to light, have remained un- 
employed, for centuries, owing to the want of some 
sagacious and enlightened mind, to apply them to their 
appropriate uses. And when we trace the history of 
Inventors, what names do we find most illustrious on 
the roll? Are they not the names of Archimedes, 
Galileo, Huygens, Hooke, Otto, Guericke, Volta, 
Franklin, Watt, Davy, Wollaston, and others, names 
more eminent in science than even in art. The truth 
is, that but comparatively few inventions have been 
produced by accident, or by uninstructed artisans. 
They are generally made by persons of competent 
knowledge, who are in pursuit of them. What en- 
abled Watt to make his improvement on the steam- 
engine, but those hints which he derived from the 
chemical lectures of Dr. Black,* and those mathemati- 
cal and mechanical attainments which he derived from 
constant and arduous study ? Even Arkwright, who 
has often been quoted as an instance of an uninstruct- 

• fn a work lately published, extracts are given from some of the 
papers of Mr. Watt, denying his indebtedness to Black. Whatever 
may be the fact, Watt doubtless owed his invention to study, not ac- 
cident. 



34 THE ARTS DEPENDENT ON SCIENCE. 

ed inventor, is now known to have been a man perfect- 
ly conversant with machinery, and to have devoted at 
least five years to the invention of the spinning jenny ; 
and tlien, he was obliged to call in the aid of others. 
Sir H. Davy discovered his admirable safety lamp, by 
which so many lives have been saved in the English 
mines, only after a long series of philosophical experi- 
ments, on w^hich he bestowed the utmost powers of his 
great mind. And it is stated, by Lord Brougham, that 
the new process of sugar-refining, — by which more 
money has been made, in a shorter time and with less 
risk and trouble, than was ever, perhaps, gained from 
an invention, before, — was discovered by a most ac- 
complished chemist, and was the fruit of a long course 
of experiments, in the progress of which, known phi- 
losophical principles were constantly applied, and one 
or two new principles ascertained.* 

A brief survey of the history of the arts will conduct 
us to the same conclusion. We shall find, that im- 
provements in these arts have generally been preceded 
by discoveries in science ; and that, when the latter has 
slumbered, the former have remained nearly stationary. 
In the long lapse of time which intervened from Archi- 
medes to Galileo, scarcely one important discovery was 
made, in mechanical philosophy ; and it is not a little 
curious, that, during the same period, hardly any prog- 
ress was made, in the mechanic arts. The same night 
which shrouded the genius of discovery seemed to 
brood over the talent for invention. No sooner, how- 
ever, did Galileo perceive those great truths which have 
immortalized his name as a philosopher, than he began 
to apply some of them to the combinations of art ; and 
the impulse which he gave to the spirit of discovery ex- 
tended itself to invention, and has rendered the progress 
of science and art, ever since, one and indivisible. It 
is within the last seventy-five years, however, that this 
connexion has been most sUiking and apparent. Dur- 
ing this period, chemistry has taken its rank among the 

♦See Lord Brougham's Discourse on the Advantages of Science. 



THE ARTS DEPENDENT ON SCIENCE. 35 

sciences ; unprecedented advances have been made in 
mechanics and physics ; and even geology, mineralogy, 
and physiology, have received most important and un- 
expected accessions. ISow, it is precisely during this 
same period, that the useful arts have pressed forward, 
with the most rapid strides. Scarcely a discovery has 
been made in science, which has not forthwith been 
turned to some useful account. The steam-engine ; 
the use of chlorine, in bleaching ; the varied and import- 
ant applications oi platinum, chronie, iodine, and other 
substances, which have been brought to hght entirely 
by the researches of the chemist ; — are but a few among 
many instances of the service which has been rendered 
to the arts of industry, by the labors and discoveries of 
science. 

We have thus enumerated some of the practical ad- 
vantages which flow from the application of science to 
the arts. There are other advantages, of a moral and 
intellectual character, which are entitled to at least a 
passing notice. The habit of studying the theory as 
well as the practice of an art, cannot but have the hap- 
piest influence, in enlarging and liberalizing the mind. 
It leads the artist to regard his occupation as something 
more than mechanical drudgery ; as a liberal and intel- 
lectual pursuit, fitted to exercise the powers of his mind, 
and to raise his thoughts from the humble workmanship 
of man to that vaster mechanism, which bespeaks the 
wisdom and power of the Almighty. It affords un- 
failing topics for reflection and conversation, during his 
hours of labor, and provides resources of an intellectual 
character, on which he can draw, in seasons of leisure 
and at the advance of old age. It seems, indeed, high 
time, that the years which have hitherto been employed 
by the apprentice, in learning the mere handicraft of 
his art, should be employed, in part at least, in study- 
ing its principles, and in tracing the operation of those 
principles throughout the works of Nature. It is more 
than time, that a higher moral and intellectual taste 
should be cultivated among the artisans of every couu- 



36 SUMMARY OF PRINCIPLES; IN PART I. 

try, and that hours, now wasted in dissipation or frit- 
tered away in frivolous reading and conversation, should 
be devoted to the acquisition of knowledge and the cul- 
tivation of virtue. In an age like this, when every spe- 
cies of manual labor is rendered more and more preca- 
rious, by the changes which are perpetually taking place 
in the arts, it is the obvious interest of the laboring man, 
to prepare himself, by reading and reflection, either to 
embrace a new employment, or to conform himself 
to sudden and unexpected vicissitudes. Independent, 
however, of interest, there are higher considerations, 
which address him as an intelhgent and immortal being, 
and which urge him to embrace the opportunities for 
improvement which have been vouchsafed him by a 
kind Providence, even in his ordinary avocations. 



SUMMARY OF PRINCIPLES, IN PART I. 

INTRODUCTION. 

I. Though naturally inferior to many of the animals, 
in strength and agility, man becomes their superior, by 
means of the Arts, 

II. These Arts are, in the first instance, suggested by 
necessity ; afterwards, they are improved by Science. 

III. The application of Science to the Arts has been 
neglected, to the prejudice, both of the philosopher and 
the artisan. The discoveries of the one have often re- 
mained unproductive, for the want of practical knowl- 
edge ; and the manual skill of the other has frequently 
accomplished little, because it required the aid and 
guidance of Science. 

THE ARTS DEPENDENT ON SCIENCE. 

I. Material substances are subject to fixed laws. 

II. They cannot be employed, except in obedience 
to those laws. 



SUMMARY OF PRINCIPLES^ IN PART I. 37 

III. They cannot be employed in obedience to such 
laws^ unless the laws are understood. 

IV. And they cannot be understood, without Sci- 
ence. 

V. Science cannot be superseded by experience, nor 
by arbitrary rules ; since these teach nothing but dis- 
connected facts and processes. It is Science alone that 
teaches us laws of the requisite simplicity and gener- 
ality. 

VI. A knowledge of such laws confers great advan- 
tages on the laboring man : — 

1. As it prepares him for new emergencies. 

2. As it gives him command of the simplest, cheap- 
est, and most economical, methods of attaining his ends. 

3. As it enables him to appreciate proposed improve- 
ments, especially in his own art. 

4. As it qualifies him to become himself an inventor 
or discoverer. 

5. As it tends to enlarge his mind and improve his 
moral character. 



S. A. 



PART 11. 

AGENTS EMPLOYED IN THE ARTS. 



Effects are produced in the useful arts, chiefly by 
the powers of Nature. Man is but the minister or agent 
of these powers.* His agency is confined, for the most 
part, to such an arrangement of substances, as will se- 
cure the action of their natural properties. He can do 
little by means of his own strength. Even the move- 
ments of his body, though modified by the principles 
of life and volition, are still subject to the laws of mat- 
ter, and are exerted in obedience to those laws. When 
he acts upon other bodies, he can influence them only 
so far as he pays strict regard to their qualities, and to 
the relations which connect them with surrounding sub- 
stances. It has been well said, that he, who would com- 
mand Nature, must first learn to obey her. 

One principal end proposed by the arts is, to super- 
sede, as far as possible, the necessity for man's exerting 
his physical strength at all. They propose to substitute 
intelligence, in the place of brute force, and to enable 
him to employ, in the attainment of his ends, those 
mighty agents which reside in the material world. 
Hence it may be useful, before we take up the several 
Arts, to consider the most important of these agents^ 

.* Man, according to Bacon, has a twofold office, in regard to Na- 
ture. He is first to interpret, and then to obey, her laws. His prov- 
ince, as an intellectual being, is to ascertain her mode of operating ; 
as an active being, to produce, by artificial means, and for some use- 
ful purpose, a recurrence of her operations. ** Homo, 7iaturce min- 
ister et interpres,^' — Man, the interpreter and servant of Nature, — is 
the motto of his great work, called the JVovum. Organum, and forms 
the fundamental principle of his method of philosophizing. 



40 CHEMICAL AGENTS. 

and also the machinery, by means of which they are 
brought to act in given cases.* 

The agents employed in the arts are of two kinds, 
Chemical and Mechanical. 



CHAPTER I. 

CHEMICAL AGENTS. 



I. (a.) All chemical agents act in obedience to one 
power or principle, which we shall endeavor to explain. 
It is called, chemical affinity. By this affinity, we mean 
neither more nor less than a tendency which particles 
of different kinds have to unite, when brought very 
near each other.-f This tendency is apparent in cer- 
tain compounds ; as, for example, of water and alco- 
hol ; which, if shaken together, will remain perman- 
ently in union ; whereas oil and water, though agitated 
ever so much, form no union, but will separate the mo- 
ment they are allowed to subside. The reason is, that 

* A mechanical manufacture, being commonly occupied with one 
substance, which it conducts through metamorphoses in regular suc- 
cession, may be made nearly automatic ; whereas a chemical manu- 
facture depends on the play of delicate affinities between two or more 
substances, which it has to subject to heat and mixture, under circum- 
stances somewhat uncertain, and must remain, therefore, to a corres- 
ponding extent, a manual operation. The best example of pure chem- 
istry, on self-acting principles, which I have seen, was in a manufac- 
ture of sulphuric acid, where the sulphur being kindled, and properly 
set in train with the nitre, atmospheric air, and water, carried on the 
process, through a labyrinth of compartments, and supplied the re- 
quisite heat of concentration, till it brought forth a finished commercial 
product. The finest model of an automatic manufacture, of mixed 
chemistry, is the five-colored calico machine, which continuously and 
spontaneously, so to speak, prints beautiful webs of cloth, with ad- 
mirable precision and speed. It is in a cotton mill, however, that 
the perfection of automati'.; industry is to be seen ; it is there, that 
the elemental powers have been made to animate millions of complex 
organs, infusing into forms of wood, iron, and brass, an intelligent 
agency. — Ure. 

t Affinity must be distinguished from cohesion. Cohesion unites 
particles of the same kind ; aflinity, those o( different kinds. 



CHEMICAL AGENTS. 41 

between water and alcohol there is an affinity, but 
none between water and oil. 

We see the operation of affinity, also, in solutions. 
A liquid dissolves a solid, merely because the particles 
of the liquid have an affinity for those of the solid, 
stronger than the cohesion by which the latter are held 
together. Thus, water dissolves sugar, because its 
affinity for the saccharine particles is greater than the 
cohesion which binds these particles to each other. It 
fails to dissolve rosin, (or camphor, except in a slight 
degree,) because, in these substances, there is either 
no affinity for water, or this affinity is so weak, that it 
cannot overcome the cohesion which unites the particles 
together. It is obvious, therefore, that cohesion opposes 
the action of affinity ; and that, when we wish substances 
to unite, by their affinities, quickly, and in large quan- 
tities, we must take measures to lessen the cohesion. 
This is effected by heat, which lessens the cohesion, by 
causing the particles of the body to recede from each 
other ; and also allows the particles of the ifluid to enter 
the pores of the solid. It is also effected by division 
of the solid into minute parts, by agitation, &c., — ex- 
pedients which faciUtate the action of affinity, by bring- 
ing the two substances into intimate and simultaneous 
contact. This explains why hot liquids are more pow- 
erful solvents than cold ones ; why powdered sugar 
dissolves in water more readily than lumps ; and why, 
in order to assist solution, we shake or agitate the con- 
taining vessel. 

(6.) We see, then, that chemical combinations are 
caused entirely by affinity, and could not exist without 
it. How important they are in the arts, we all know. 
Many solid substances would be of no use, unless we 
could dissolve them ; and to know by what hquid they 
can be dissolved, and what causes may oppose or assist 
the process, is evidently of the highest importance. 

In addition to this, there is another very important 
property which characterizes the power of solution in 
many cases. It is limited. In some compounds, bo* 
4# 



42 CHEMICAL AGENTS. 

dies may be united, in all possible proportions. Equal 
measures of water and alcohol may be united ; or one 
drop of the former with a gallon of the latter ; or a drop 
of the latter with a gallon of the former, or in any in- 
termediate proportions ; and, in every case, the union 
will be perfect, uniform, and permanent. But, in 
most solutions, the liquid cannot combine with more 
than a certain definite quantity of any solid or aeri- 
form body. Thus, water can only take up a certain 
known weight of common salt ; or alcohol, of cam- 
phor. The point, at which the dissolving power of the 
liquid ceases, is called the point of saturation. The 
liquid itself is then said to be saturated. When solu- 
tions are made, as in the arts, on a large scale, it is 
evidently of the utmost importance that we should 
know where this point of saturation stands, that we 
may not waste time and material in attempting to push 
the process beyond a limit fixed by the inviolable laics 
of Nature, 

(c.) Again. It is worthy of remark, that, when a li- 
quid has been saturated with one substance, it is often 
capable of combining, at the same time, with a second 
and a third. Thus, water, which has taken up its full 
proportion of common salt, will dissolve a further quan- 
tity of Glauber^ s salt, and a yet further quantity of 
Epsom salt. On this fact is founded a very convenient 
process for obtaining these salts from sea-water, (which 
always contains them,) by gradual evaporation. When 
a given quantity of the water is evaporated down near 
to the point at which the least soluble salt saturates the 
liquid, that salt will begin to crystallize. Thus we ob- 
tain common salt. A still further evaporation gives 
Glauber's salt; and the remaining liquid holds dis- 
solved a quantity of Epsom salt. It is obvious, that 
such a process can never be carried on, with economy 
and success, without a knowledge of the relative solu- 
bility of these substances. 

(d,) Having noticed the case, in which one substance 
has different degrees of affinity for two or more others, 



CHEMICAL AGENTS. 43 

we take this opportunity of presenting a striking prin- 
ciple, which appUes in many such cases. The differ- 
ence in the affinity may be so great, that it will occasion 
both decomposition and the forming of a new compound. 
For example : if we take spirits of camphor, (a solution 
of camphor in pure alcohol,) and pour a little water to 
it, we shall find the camphor precipitated, in a solid 
form, to the bottom. The reason is, that the alcohol 
has a much greater affinity for the water than it has for 
the camphor ; in consequence of which, the latter is 
separated, and resumes its solid state, and a new com- 
bination is formed of the water and alcohol. Here, as 
a substance seems to make choice or election of one 
substance rather than another, with which to unite, we 
apply the term elective, and call it elective affinity ; and 
since there is but one decomposition and one new com- 
pound formed, it is called, single elective affinity. 

There is another case, in which double decomposition 
and composition will take place ; that is, the two origi- 
nal bodies being both compound, will each be decom- 
posed, and two new compounds produced, from a mu- 
tual exchange of ingredients. For example : take sugar 
of lead (which is a compound of vinegar and lead) and 
white vitriol, (which is also a compound, formed by 
uniting sulphuric acid with a metal called zinc.) If 
these substances, in a state of solution, be mixed ; the 
vinegar in the sugar of lead, having a stronger affinity 
for the zinc of the other compound than it has for the 
lead, will forsake the latter and unite with the zinc ; 
while, on the other hand, the sulphuric acid, having a 
stronger affinity for the lead than for zinc, will quit the 
latter and unite with the former. Thus, we shall have 
two new compounds ; the one composed of vinegar 
(or acetic acid) and zinc, and hence called acetate^ of 

* The chemical names of compounds are so arranged, as to indicate 
the simple substances of which they are composed, and also the pro- 
portion in which the ingredients combine. Thus, where an acid so 
combines with an oxide, or other base, as to neutralize it and be it- 
self neutralized, the name of the compound is formed by changing 
the last syllable of the acid from ic into ate, or from 07*5 into ite. 



44 CHEMICAL AGENTS. 

zinc ; the other, of sulphuric add and had, and hence 
called sulphate of lead. This is called double elective 
affinity. This beautiful principle affords to the art- 
ist, u)ho understands it. a ready mode of separating a 
solid from a solution ; of purifying mixtures, &fc. ; 
and is of most extensive application in the useful arts. 
11. (a.) We come now to another modification of af- 
finity, still more curious and interesting. In the com- 
pounds of which we have spoken, the affinity exerted is 
comparatively weak. The compound retains the proper- 
ties of its ingredients, which seem unchanged by the com- 
bination, and takes a character intermediate between 
theirs, — a circumstance which contributes greatly to 
the usefulness of solutions, and without which, indeed, 
they could have none of their present value. In the 
mode of action which we shall now consider, and which 
may be termed, by way of eminence, chemical com- 
position, the affinity acts with more energy, the union 
eflfected is more intimate, and is generally attended 
with such an entire change of properties, that we can- 
not discover in the compound any trace of the ingre- 
dients. Thus, tico gases, oxygen and hydrogen, being 
combined, in certain proportions, form tvater, a fluid 
substance, entirely destitute of the characteristic prop- 
erties of either of its constituents. So, if mercury be 
united with a certain proportion of chlorine, which is 
a gas, it forms a solid, well known in medicine by the 
name of calomel, and which diflFers entirely from its 
ingredients, in form, appearance, and taste, and in its 
eflfects on the animal system. So, again, if we unite an 
acid and an alkali, as oil of vitriol and soda, a com- 
pound results, which has neither the intense acidity or 

Thus, acetic acid, combined with zinc, gives acetate of zinc ^ acet- 
ous acid, combined with zinc, would give acetffe of zinc. An acid 
takes ic, when it contains a larger proportion of the acidifying princi- 
ple, that is, oxygen : ous, when it contains a smaller portion. Thus, 
four proportions of oxygen give nitrous acid, five proportions, nitric 
acid, &c. So sulphate of lead is thus called, because it is a com- 
pound of sulphur/c acid and lead. In this compound, there are, of 
course, thriee simple substances, oxygen, sulphur, and lead. 



Cfi£MICAL AGENTS. 7l^ 

corrosive power of the vitriol, nor the acrid bitterness 
and power over color of the alkaU. The active proper- 
ties of each substance are destroyed or neutrahzed, and 
a compound, distinguished for its mildness, is obtained ; 
just as, in the preceding case, a compound of very ac- 
tive properties resulted from the union of ingredients 
comparatively inert. 

(6.) These compounds are distinguished by another 
remarkable characteristic. Wherever or in whatever 
quantity found, they are not only composed of the 
same ingredients, but of these ingredients combined 
in exactly the same propoi'tion. Thus, if water be 
found in any instance to consist (as it always does, if 
pure) of eight parts of oxygen and one of hydrogen, 
it may be assumed, as a permanent and universal law, 
that all other pure water, wherever obtained, will con- 
tain the same ingredients, in the same proportions. 
Were these ingredients in any other proportions, the 
resulting compound would not be water, but some sub- 
stance of very different properties ; and this conducts 
us to another very singular law, which is, that the same 
ingredients, combining in different proportions, pro- 
duce compounds differing essentially, not merely from 
the ingredients themselves, but also from one anoth- 
er. The union of mercury and chlorine, in one propor- 
tion, gives calomel, a useful medicine ; while, united 
in a different proportion, they give coiTosive sublimate, 
a deadly poison. How important is it, for all who pre- 
pare medicines, or any compound in the arts, to under- 
stand this law. If ignorant of it, they have no securi- 
ty, either that they will obtain the compound that they 
desire, or that some other one, fatal to their designs, 
may not be produced. The following example will 
illustrate the importance of this knowledge to the med- 
ical practitioner. Of two medicines, either might be 
administered separately, without injury, and perhaps 
with benefit ; whereas, if both of them should be given 
in conjunction, or at nearly the same time, the most 
dreadful consequences might ensue ; since the product 



46 CHEMICAL AGENTS. 

of such a combination might be poisonous. And, on 
the other hand, two useful medicines might be so relat- 
ed, that, if administered together, the one would com- 
pletely neutralize the other. 

(c.) But we have not yet unfolded all the wonders of 
this wonderful principle. We have seen, that, in this 
class of chemical compositions, ingredients may unite in 
different proportions. But the range of combination is 
vastly more limited, here, than in the case of solutions. 
There, the constituents might combine, in all propor- 
tions, within a certain limit. But here, they must al- 
ways combine in the proportion of certain numbers, 
which are called their proportional numbers. Thus, 
in whatever compound we meet with oxygen, we shall 
find, that its quantity may be expressed by eight, or by 
some multiple of eight ; as sixteen, twenty-four, thirty- 
two, forty, &c. Hydrogen always unites in the pro- 
portion of one, or of some multiple of one ; sulphur, in 
the proportion of sixteen ; chlorine, of thirty-six, &c.* 

Where the compound is formed by the union of two 
substances, one or both of which are already compound- 
ed, the proportional number of that substance will be 
expressed by the smn of the proportional numbers of 
its ingredients. For example : if water, a compound 
of oxygen and hydrogen, unites w^ith lime, it will be in 
the proportion of 8-|-l==9f (which is the sum of hy- 
drogen and oxygen) to 20+8=28 which represent the 
proportions of calcium and oxygen in lime. It is also 
a law of chemical combination, that the quantities of 
any two substances, which combine with the same quan- 
tities of a third, will also combine with one another : 
that is, if eight parts of oxygen will combine with one 
part of hydrogen, and with sixteen parts of sulphur, 

♦ This is called the law or principle of definite proportions. 

t It may be well to mention, here, for the benefit of those readers 
who are not familiar with mathematical signs, that-(-means plus, 
more, or added to ; — minus, less ;X multiplied by ;^divided by ;=: 
equal to. As 8-f-l=9 means, 8 plus (or more) 1 (or 1 added to 8) 
equals 9 ; 9 — 1=8 means, 9 minus (or less)l is equal to 8 ; 3X4 
=12 means, 3 multiplied by 4 is equal to 12 ; 12-r-4=3 means, 
12 divided by 4 is equal to 3. 



MECHANICAL. AGENTS. 47 

then the two latter, that is, one of the hydrogen and 
sixteen of sulphur, will combine together. 

These laws, it will be perceived, must give great sim- 
plicity to chemical combinations. The number of sim- 
ple substances, which play an important part in such 
combinations, is small ; and, if the proportional num- 
bers for these substances be remembered, as they easi- 
ly may be, an individual can determine the proportions 
in which the ingredients combine, in all given com- 
pounds, without difficulty, and without having recourse 
to books. 

These laws of affinity, which we have thus endeav- 
ored to explain, lie at the foundation of all chemical 
science, and admit of innumerable applications to the 
useful arts. They regulate the operations of the bleach- 
er, dyer, tanner, brewer, and baker ; assist or mar the 
labors of the husbandman, glassmaker, metallurgist, 
manufacturer, &c., and are therefore entitled to the se- 
rious attention of all persons connected with these im- 
portant pursuits. It will be our object, when we come 
to treat of these arts, to illustrate the applications here 
referred to, at greater length, and to show, by numer- 
ous examples, the necessity of understanding a principle, 
so perpetually at work, and which is equally powerful, 
whether employed as an auxiliary or encountered as an 
antagonist. 



CHAPTER II. 

MECHANICAL AGENTS EMPLOYED IN THE ARTS. 

Chemical agents act only at insensible distances, and 
are confined, in their operation, to changing the inte- 
rior constitution of bodies. Mechanical agents, on the 
contrary, act at sensible distances, leave the interior 
constitution of bodies unchanged, and alter only the 
position or form of their masses. These agents are 
called forces or prime movers ; and comprehend the 



48 MECHANICAL AGENTS. 

strength of animals, loater^ wind, steam, &c. Before 
we enter upon the examination of these forces, howev- 
er, it will be necessary to exhibit, in few words, certain 
fundamental laws of motion, which apply to all bodies 
and forces, alike ; and which ought to be thoroughly 
understood, by every person who is engaged, directly 
or indirectly, in mechanical operations. 

I. The first law is, that masses of matter never 
change their state of motion or rest, unless external 
force is applied. This is merely saying, in other words, 
that matter is inert, or has no power of voluntary action. 
That a body never passes from a state of rest to that of 
motion, without the application to it of some force, is 
evident enough to all. But it is not so evident, that a 
body, once in motion, would never stop, except from 
the same cause. This will become apparent, however, 
if we consider, that a body, rolling over a smooth sur- 
face, will continue much longer in motion, than if the 
surface be rough ; and that, if the surface be thorough- 
ly polished, and very hard, a top has been known to 
continue spinning upon it, for hours. If, in the latter 
case, we could do away friction, entirely, and remove 
all the resistance presented by the air, the motion would 
undoubtedly continue a very long time ; and we know 
of no reason why it should ever stop. It should be 
added, here, that, as a body once in motion has no 
power of stopping itself, so neither has it any power 
of changing its rate of motion ; and it will continue, 
therefore, to move for ever, with uniform velocity, un- 
less some force be applied, to retard or accelerate. 

INERTIA OF BODIES. 

This law, which is commonly called the law of iner- 
tia, suggests some very important rules for regulating 
motion and machinery, and serves to explain a great 
many interesting facts. For example : if you would put 
in motion a large mass, you must take time ; since, each 
particle of the mass being inert, the inertia of the whole 
can only be overcome gradually. Hence, a judicious 



MECHANICAL AGENTS. 49 

driver never strikes his horses at starting, lest the sud- 
den exertion of their strength against an inert load 
should injure them, and break the harness. Hence, 
also, on railways, they connect the cars by flexible 
springs, in order that the different cars may be put in 
motion one after another, instead of compelling the 
engine or horses to overcome the inertia of the whole 
train at one effort. 

We see the same principle in the case of a large boat 
lying in water. A sudden pull, though very strong, 
seems to have no effect upon it ; whereas, a slight force, 
if it be applied steadily, till it has had time to pervade 
the entire mass, will produce motion. In other cases, 
however, where our object is not to move the whole 
mass, but to detach a small part of it, we should apply 
the force suddenly. Thus, in breaking off* fragments 
from rocks, metals, pottery, &c., the blow must evident- 
ly be violent, that the part may be broken off", before 
the motion communicates to the whole mass. This 
explains why we can discharge a pistol ball through a 
pane of glass, without breaking, or even cracking, any 
part, except just that through which the ball passes. 
Also, why, if a board be suspended freely, a pistol ball 
can be driven quite througli it, without communicating 
any sensible motion to the board. Also, w^hy a tallow 
candle, discharged from a musket, can be driven, like 
a bullet, through a pine board ; and why a cannon ball, 
coming from a great distance, and moving at a compar- 
atively slow rate, does so much more damage than a 
shot coming from some point very near. 

Thus much, respecting the application of this law 
of inertia to the case of bodies, which are to be put in 
motion, and which exhibit a tendency to rest. It ad- 
mits, also, of many interesting applications to bodies 
already in, motion, and which exhibit a tendency to 
continue this motion. Thus, it is owing to inertia, 
that we find it so difficult, when running fast, to stop 
ourselves, suddenly ; that we fall over, forwards, if the 
moving surface, on which we have been standing, as 

5 S. A. 



50 MECHANICAL AGENTS. 

the bottom of a wagon, for example, is unexpectedly 
stopped ; and that we receive such severe falls, when 
we leap from a carriage in motion to the ground. To 
this same principle we are to refer the severe concussion 
communicated even by small bodies, when they are 
moving rapidly. It should be remarked, here, that the 
force with which a body moves, and the consequent 
efforts which it makes to continue in motion, depend on 
the velocity as well as on the quantity of matter. A 
hammer is a small body ; but, owing to the great veloc- 
ity which is communicated to it by the arm, as it de- 
scends, it is capable of inflicting a very severe blow. 
So with the flail, in threshing ; the balls used in mus- 
kets and cannon ; the battering ram of the ancients ; the 
pile-engine, &c. Another very interesting application 
of inertia is in the fly-wheel, which is used in machin- 
ery, for the purpose of maintaining a uniform rate of 
motion, and to which we shall have occasion hereafter 
to refer. 

CENTRIFUGAL FORCE. 

The inertia of matter gives rise, also, to a different 
but very interesting class of facts. If bodies are mov- 
ing, they have a tendency, as we have seen, to continue 
in motion, with uniform velocity ; and we now add, 
that this tendency is always to carry them in a right 
line. Hence, if they move in curves, there is a con- 
tinual effort to take a rectilinear course, in the direc- 
tion of tangents to those curves. This effort is called 
the centrifugal force of a body, and has a very impor- 
tant influence on the motion, both of bodies in space 
and of machinery. We have familiar examples of it, 
in the water and mud which fly off from the periphery 
of carriage wheels, when in rapid motion ;* in the force 
with which stones escape from a sling, which has been 
whirled rapidly round ; in the greater liability of a car- 
riage to upset, when it is turning a corner ; in the hol- 

*The velocity given to grindstones, in some manufactories, is so 
great, that fragments are broken off, by this centrifugal tendency. 



COMPOUND MOTION. 51 

low shape which the water in a vessel assumes, if that 
vessel be revolved quickly round its axis, &c. &c. 
Valuable use is made of this centrifugal tendency, in 
the construction of millstones, — the grain always be- 
ing received between the stones, in the centre, and 
carried outwards of itself: also, in the lathe which is 
used by potters and glassmakers ; and, above all, in the 
machine called a governor, which was first applied by 
Watt, to regulate the supply of steam, or any other 
moving power, to machinery. 

The second law of motion is, that any change in 
the place of a body must be proportioned to the force 
impressed, and in the direction of that force. This is 
sufficiently evident, in the case of a single force, or of 
two or more forces acting in the same right hne, and 
when the body is free to move in the direction of that 
line. 

COMPOUND MOTION. 

There are other cases, however, (as, for instance, 
that of a boat rowed across a river which has a rapid 
current,) in which the body is acted upon, at the same 
time, by two forces at certain angles, either greater 
than, equal to, or less than, right angles. Thus, if a 
body at B, Fig. 1, be acted upon, at the p. ^ 

same instant, by two forces, at right an- c : 

gles with each other, one impelling it to- : / 
wards C, and the other towards D, it is im- ; / 

portant to know in what direction it will Ex. D 

move, and at what rate. Suppose, that the first force, 
acting alone, would have carried the body through the 
line B C, in one second, and that the other force, act- 
ing alone, would have carried it through B D, in the 
same time ; acting together, they must carry the body, 
in one second, to a point which shall be just as far from 
B D as C is, and just as far from B C as D is ; that is, 
to E :^ and the body itself will have described the 

* For the action of the perpendicular force cannot prevent the full 
effect of the horizontal ; nor, vice versa, would the action of the hor- 
izontal force prevent the full effect of the perpendicular one. There- 



52 MECHANICAL AGENTS. 

diagonal of the parallelogram. The same law holds 
good, whatever be the inclination of the forces; and 
hence we have the general principle, that a body, act- 
ed upon by two forces, describes the diagonal of a 
parallelogram, the sides and angles of tohich repre- 
sent the intensity and direction of those two forces ; 
and will do this in the same time in which, by the 
action of one of the forces, it would have described a 
side, and with a uniform velocity. 

From this principle we see how, in machinery, we 
may substitute two forces, acting at angles, instead of 
a single force ; or, on the other hand, how we may 
substitute one force instead of two, three, four, or more, 
forces. Suppose we have three forces, and wish to 
find one which will produce the same effect. We 
must determine its direction and intensity. To do 
this, we take the lines representing two of the forces, 
and construct a parallelogram from them ; and, in the 
diagonal, we have a single force equivalent to the two. 
Taking this diagonal, with the third force, we construct 
another parallelogram ; and the diagonal of this last 
parallelogram will give us the equivalent of all the 
three forces, and will represent its intensity and direc- 
tion. 

CENTRE OF GRAVITY. 

One of the most interesting applications of this prin- 
ciple is, in investigating the properties and determining 
the place of that point in a body, which is called its 
centre of gravity. The several particles of matter in 
a body being solicited by gravity, we may consider it 
as acted upon by a great many different forces, which, 
if reduced to one, will always pass (whatever be the 
position of the body) through a certain point in it, 
around which its parts seem to balance each other, and 
which, if supported, will give support to the whole 

fore, the body, at the end of a second, must be both in the vertical 
line, C E, and in the horizontal one, D E, that is, at E, their point 
of intersection ; and must have described, during this instant of time, 
the diagonal line, B E. 



CENTRE OF GRAVITY. 53 

mass. The stability of edifices and other masses of 
matter depends, therefore, on the position of their cen- 
tre of gravity. If a hne, drawn from this centre, per- 
pendicular to the horizon, falls within the base, the 
body will evidently stand ; and its stabiHty will be 
greater, the further that line falls from the side of the 
base ; so that the stability is greater, in proportion to 
the size of the base, as compared with the perpendicu- 
lar height of the centre of gravity. If it falls without 
the base, the body will fall instantly ; if upon the side 
of the base, the body will stand with what is termed 
unstable equilibrium, and be overthrown by the ap- 
plication of the slightest force- 
Where bodies, like carriages, are to be moved, and are 
subject to inchnations, towards one side and another, 
it is necessary to place the centre of gravity low ; oth- 
erwise, a slight inclination will throw the perpendicular 
line without the base, and cause the body to be over- 
thrown. In Fig. 2, A B represents a pjg, 2. 
wagon, on the slope of a hill ; C D 
represents the level of the ground ; E F 
the base of the wagon and the slope 
of the hill. If the wagon be so laden, 
that the centre of gravity be at B, the 
perpendicular, B E, will fall within the ^ ^ 

base, and the wagon will stand. But if the load be so 
altered, that the centre of gravity be raised to A, the 
perpendicular, A C, will fall outside of the base, and the 
wagon be overset. The difficulty which the young 
child finds, in walking, arises principally from his in- 
ability to keep the centre of gravity of his body over 
the base. Quadrupeds have, in this respect, an ad- 
vantage over the young of other animals. 

To determine the position of the centre of gravity in 
a body is important, on many accounts ; but especially, 
because, when a force is to be applied to a body to 
move it, it should be made generally to pass through 
the centre ; otherwise, a rotary as well as progressive 
motion would be communicated to the body. 
5* 




54 MECHANICAL AGENTS. 

There is a third law of motion, which is generally 
called the principle of action and reaction. It consists 
in the fact, that, to every action of one body on an- 
other, there is an equal and contrary reaction. That 
isj in other words, if I strike a blow with my fist, the 
fist receives just as severe a blow as it inflicts. If one 
vessel, under full sail, strike against another, at rest, it 
receives a shock just as great as that which it commu- 
nicates. It is on this principle that a bird is able to 
support itself in the air, by beating with its wings 
against the air below. This air, being struck, reacts 
against the body of the bird, with a power sufficient to 
keep it in its place, or to enable it to rise and fall, at 
pleasure. 



CHAPTER III. 

MECHANICAL AGENTS CONTINUED. 

Having considered the three fundamental laws of 
motion, we now proceed to the forces, which may be 
employed to produce motion. They are of two kinds, 
animate and inanimate, 

ANIMATE FORCES. 

The animate forces consist of the strength of men 
and animals. As this depends upon the principle 
of life, respecting which we are entirely ignorant, 
and as the strength of an animal is influenced by his 
constitution, state of health, the climate in which he 
fives, and various other causes, it is impossible to as- 
certain the laws which regulate it, as accurately as we 
can ascertain those which regulate inanimate forces. 
Still, many experiments and calculations have been 
made, and principally to ascertain the most advantage- 
ous modes in which an animal can be worked; the 
velocity and load with which he can work most effect- 
ively or permanently ; the relative strength of different 



ANIMATE FORCES. 55 

animals ; and the comparative economy of using them. 
It has been ascertained, 

1. That the most advantageous method of employ- 
ing the strength of a horse is in the act of drawing a 
load ; and the least advantageous, in carrying a load, 
especially up hill : while, as one might infer from the 
perpendicular position and structure of his body, the 
reverse is the case with man, and that rowing is, per- 
haps of all ways of applying human strength, the most 
effective. 

2. That an animal will work most effectively, from 
day to day, if his velocity be small and his load large ; 
that the working rate ought never to be more than one 
half, nor generally more than one third, of the greatest 
velocity with which the animal can travel without load ; 
and that, with this velocity, his load should never be 
more than four ninths of the greatest which he can 
bear. Thus, if the greatest speed with which a horse 
can travel, without a load, be twelve miles per hour, 
and the greatest load which he can carry, without 
moving, be four hundred pounds, he will work, perma- 
nently, with most advantage, when his rate of going is 
four miles an hour, and his load about one hundred 
and eighty pounds. 

3. That a horse can exert an effective force, from 
day to day, equal to that of six men ; and an elephant, 
a force equal to six horses : and, 

4. That, considering the expense of keeping a horse, 
which is not greater than that of keeping a man, nor 
more than one sixth of that of keeping an elephant, his 
fitness for different kinds of service and any kind of 
road, and his uniting fleetness with strength, he pos- 
sesses a great advantage, in regard to economy and 
convenience, over every other animal,* for general use. 
' In regard to employing human force^ or, in other 
words, the strength of men, it is obvious, 

* Exception must be made, in particular climates, in favor of the 
camel, mule, &c. ; and, in our own country, the ox is to be prefer- 
red, for farm-labor. 



56 MECHANICAL AGENTS. 

1. That it is of all forces the most expensive^ — since 
it costs as much to feed a man as a horse, while he can 
perform only one sixth part of the service. 

2. It is the least convenient, since the power of the 
individual is confined within very narrow limits, both 
of speed and strength ; and, in many kinds of work^, it 
is impossible to employ a large number of men togeth- 
er. It is obvious, for example, that no number of men 
would be able to drag a stage-coach, at the rate of 
twelve miles an hour ; and, to show the comparative 
ineflSciency of human labor, in another way, we may 
mention the statement of Homer, that twelve women 
had to be constantly employed at the hand-mills, in the 
house of Ulysses, in order to grind corn enough for his 
family, — a work which might have been performed by 
a very small stream of water, or by a single horse. 

3. Human force, when exercised without intelli- 
gence, has a degrading influence on the mind and 
heart. Hence, wherever we can substitute animal or 
other brute force for that of men, we are bound to do 
it, that the power of the latter may be reserved for 
cases, in which they can exert intelligence and skill, 
and have scope for the exercise of their moral affec- 
tions. Freemen revolt at the idea of being chained to 
the cars of the wealthy or powerful ; or at taking the 
place of brutes, in the plough or at the mill. Should 
they not be equally anxious to avoid other occupations, 
which exert no healthful influence on the character, 
and which could be performed with as much eflfect, 
and with greater economy, by animals, or even by in- 
animate forces ? Examples of such occupations may 
be found in churning, threshing, hayraking, spinning, 
weaving, &c. &c. 

INANIMATE FORCES. 

Under this head are included, gravity, water, wind, 
steam, &c., which may all be referred, indirectly, to 
three sources ; to wit, gravity, elasticity, and heat. 



GRAVITY. 5 i 

I. Gravity, — As a moving force, gravity acts on 
solids, fluids, and aeriform substances. 

(a.) It causes solid bodies to descend towards the 
centre of the earth, and hence the use of the plumb- 
line, v^hich, always taking that direction, is of course 
perpendicular to the horizon, and serves, therefore, in 
building, to determine the perpendicular, and also the 
level. It also carries bodies down inclined planes, and 
down the descending branch of the arc of a pendulum ; 
in which last case, it communicates, during the descent, 
sufficient force to the body, to carry it upwards, to the 
same height, on the ascending branch of the arc. It 
draws projectiles towards the earth, and of course out 
of the right line which they would otherwise describe, 
and thus puts a limit to the range of ordnance, in war, 
and to the useful effect of fire-engines, &c. In the 
clock, the weight, so called, — that is, the gravity of 
some solid substance drawing on the machinery, — 
serves to overcome the resistance w^iich is presented to 
the motions of the pendulum, by friction and the air, 
and to render the vibrations of this pendulum permor 
nent and isochronous ; that is, of equal times. 

These applications of gravity, as a moving force, 
though suggested, in some cases, by artisans, have been 
perfected, in almost all cases, by men of science. To 
their nice researches and calculations we owe whatev- 
er rules are now employed in gunnery, and in regulat- 
ing the motion of bodies faUing through space or de- 
scending on inclined planes. In all these cases, the 
result depends upon a property of motion, which we 
have not yet mentioned. This may be called uniform 
acceleration. If a ball, lying on a level surface, be 
struck, it will move with a velocity which would con- 
tinue, if there were no friction or other resistance, al- 
ways the same. Now if, instead of a single blow, it 
were to receive several blows, at regular intervals, the 
velocity would go on increasing ; and if each blow were 
given with the same force, the increase would evident- 
ly be uniform : that is, if a body, having received one 



58 MECHANICAL AGENTS. 

blow, passes through sixteen feet, in the first second, it 
will pass through double that number of feet, in the 
next second, because it has received another blow, while 
it retains all the motion communicated by the first. The 
spaces, therefore, described in the successive seconds, 
would be as follows : 1....16; 2....32 ; 3....48 ; 4....64 ; 
&c. Here, the velocity increases, each instant, by the 
same quantity, that is, sixteen feet ; and hence is said 
to be uniformly accelerated. 

Now, gravity, as a force, may be said to act upon 
descending bodies, in the same manner, by successive 
impulses ; only that these impulses, instead of taking 
place at intervals, take place in the quickest possible 
succession. The eflect, however, on the motion, will 
be much the same. It will be accelerated^ and the ac* 
celeration will be uniform ; or, in other words, may be 
represented by a constant quantity. It is found, by 
experiment, that if a body fall freely through space, it 
will pass through 16.1 feet in the first second of time. 
But as, during this second, gravity has been all the 
while acting, the velocity has increased, and has become 
such, at the end of the first second, that, if gravity were 
then suspended, and the body left to its acquired force, 
it would fall, during the second second, through 32.2 
feet ; so that 32.2 represents the regular acceleration, 
from second to second, or the accelerating force of 
gravity. 

The spaces described, therefore, in the successive 
seconds, by the influence of gravity, would be as fol- 
lows : 1....16.1 ; 2....48.3 ; 3....80.5 ; 4....I12.7 ; &c.— 
an arithmetical series, of which the first term is 16.1, 
and the common difference, 32.2. Now, the sum of 
any number of terms, in such a series, as we know from 
arithmetic, is equal to the half sum of the first and last 
terms multiplied by the number of terms ; and any in- 
dividual term is equal to the product of the common 
difference into the number of terms to that place, mi- 
nus the first term. Hence we may perceive, that, hav- 
ing learned, by experiment, the rate at which falling 



GRAVITY. 59 

bodies are accelerated, we have very simple rules for 
ascertaining, (1) the whole space ^ through which a 
body, falling freely, would pass, in a given number 
of seconds ; and (2) the space which would be des- 
cribed, in any one of those seconds : and these rules 
are of the utmost practical utility. 

Respecting these laws, let it be remarked, (1) that 
they apply to all bodies, alike ; whence it follows, that, 
if the resistance presented by the air were removed, a 
light body would descend as rapidly as a heavy one, — a 
fact which is verified by the guinea and feather experi- 
ment ;^ (2) that they apply also to bodies descending 
inclined planes, or through the arcs of pendulums, 
with the single exception, that here, the accelerating 
force being diminished by the reaction of the plane, 
will be less than 32.2, and will depend on the degree 
of inclination which has been given to the plane or arc ; 
and (3) that these laws were never known till the sev- 
enteenth century, when they were discovered by a dis- 
tinguished philosopher, Galileo ; previous to which, 
mankind were unable to avail themselves of the valua- 
ble improvements to which they have given rise. 

Fig. 3. 



Q 



* In this experiment, the air is exhausted from a glass re- 
ceiver, as perfectly as possible ; and a guinea or other heavy 
substance is dropped, at the same lime with a feather, from 
a point where they were previously placed, at the top of 
the receiver, on the inside. They reach the bottom at the 
same time. 



60 MECHANICAL AGENTS. 

CHAPTER IV. 

MECHANICAL AGENTS. (GRAVITY CONTINUED.) 

(6.) Gravity acts as a moving force through ^md^, 
in the case (1) of water-wheels ; (2) of fluids dis- 
charging through pipes or orifices, flowing down riv- 
ers, canals, &c. ; and (3) of the hydrostatic press, bel- 
lows, &c. 

I. Water Wheels, — These are of three kinds, the 
overshot, undershot, and breast-wheel. In the over- 
shot-ivheel, the water acts simply by weight. It is re- 
ceived at the top of the wheel, which is nearly on a level 
with the reservoir or pond, by a bucket ; and, acting on 
the circumference, serves to draw it round, thus giving 
a rotary motion to the wheel. Similar buckets are at- 
tached to the whole circumference ; and, since those on 
one side of it may all contain water at the same time, 
they will act together, to turn the wheel. It is evident, 
from an inspection of the wheel, that its useful effect 
will be increased by increasing the number of buckets, 
and by retaining the water in them as long as possible. 
To this, however, there are certain limits. Thus, if a 
Fig. 4. bucket, passing round from A 

i^^^^^= through B to C, Fig. 4, were to 
^^ retain its water, after passing C, 

^^^pSS^^^ it would retard rather than ac- 

^ HH ; I ^^ a celerate. So, while at A and 

^Bil^TT^IB ^' '^ could produce no useful 

^H^L^^bW*^ effect, but would tend, on the 

^^m^ppi^ contrary, by its pressure on the 

c axle at o, to increase the fric- 

tion, and thus to retard the motion, while at other 
points, very near to A and C, towards B, a similar 
though less effect would ensue. Hence, there is a cer- 
tain form of buckets, which is most advantageous;* 

♦ Being so constructed, as to retain the water long enough, and 
yet not too long. 



UNDERSHOT-WHEELS. BREAST-WHEEL. 



61 



and this form can be ascertained in no way but by sci- 
entific research. 

So, again, there is a certain velocity with which an 
overshot-wheel should move, in order to produce the 
greatest useful effect. This will be evident, from con- 
sidering two extreme cases. If the wheel be so loaded 
as to render the weight of water insufficient to move 
it, the velocity becomes nothing ; and it is evident, that 
the effect becomes nothing. If, on the other hand, the 
wheel be supposed to turn, as rapidly as the water 
would fall freely, it is evident, that the effect of the wa- 
ter in the buckets will be nothing, since they will de- 
scend as fast as the water itself would. Between these 
limiting cases, there is of course an intermediate veloci- 
ty, which will produce the best possible effect ; and to 
ascertain it requires, in some degree, that union of sci- 
ence and skill, which distinguished a Smeaton or a 
Bossut. 

In like manner, respecting undershot-wheels, on 
which water acts by Fig. 5. 

impulse rather than 
weight, there are del- 
icate questions, as to 
where they are to 
be used, and with 
what number of float- 
boards, which call, in 
many cases, for the 
skill of the mathema- 
tician and philosopher. 

A breast-wheel is one in 
which the water strikes against 
the bucket or float, either in a 
line with the horizontal diam- 
eter, or still lower. It may, in 
the first case, have buckets, 
similar to those of the overshot 
wheel, as in Fig. 5. In the oth- 
er case, where the water is ad- 

6 s. A, 




Fig. 6. 




62 



MECHANICAL AGENTS. 




in 



Fig. 8. 



riA 



mitted below the 
horizontal diame- 
ter, the wheel is 
enclosed in a chan- 
nel which it near- 
ly fills, and is fur- 
nished with floats, 
or paddles, like 
those of the com- 
mon undershot-wheel, as in Fig. 7. 

2. Fluids flowing through orifices, pipes, canals, &fC. 
— When an orifice is opened in a vessel or reservoir 
containing liquids, the liquid flows out with a velocity 
equal to that which a heavy body would acquire by 
falling through the height from the level of the fluid 
the vessel to the orifice. And so its motion, al- 
lowance being made for friction, is 
in every respect regulated by the laws 
which govern projectiles drawn to- 
wards the earth by gravity. Now, 
it is often important for us to calcu- 
late how much fluid will be dis- 
charged through a given orifice in a 
given time ; that is, with what velocity it will be dis- 
charged ; or how long it will take to empty a vessel of 
given dimensions, through an orifice of given size ; or 
how large an orifice must be made, in order to obtain 
a requisite supply of fluid, in a given time. Thus, 
when an engineer undertakes to supply a city with 
water, he ascertains how much will be required for 
daily or weekly consumption ; then determines the ele- 
vation of his reservoir above the town ; and from these, 
as data, must calculate how much diameter of pipe will 
be necessary to afford the supply. Here, of course, 
allowance is to be made for friction against the pipe ; 
for leakage, &c. ; and it will be evident to every one, 
that, to make such calculations with accuracy requires 
all the skill of the scientific and practical engineer. 




HYDROSTATIC PRESSURE. 



63 



3. Hydrostatic pressure. — (a.) Fluids have one 
property which distinguishes them remarkably from 
solids, and by which they modify, essentially, the action 
of gravity. This is, that their particles, being held to- 
gether by a very slight cohesion, are ready to move 
at the slightest force ; and experiment proves, that they 
can be at rest only when they press and, are pressed, 
equally J in all directions. Hence, if water be confined 
in a vessel, and pressure, to any amount, be applied to 
a square inch of that water, a pressure, to an equal 
amount, will be transmitted to every square inch of the 
surface of the vessel in which the water is contained. 
For example : fill a cask with water, and then insert a 
small tube in the top ; fill this tube with wa- pig. 9, 
ter, and it is evident that it will press upon 
A B, where the tube is inserted, with a 
force equal to the weight of the water in 
the tube. Suppose this to be one pound ; 
then the pressure on the inside of the ves- 
sel will exceed one pound as many times as 
that inside surface exceeds the area A B, which may be 
many thousand times. Hence, we may, by this simple 
process, burst the strongest cask, and have a pleasing and 
striking proof of the principle under consideration. 

It is on this principle that we construct the hydro- 
static helloics. A vertical tube is 
made to communicate with an ap- 
paratus like a common bellows, ex- 
cept that it has no valve, or opening, 
at the under side. If the tube holds 
an ounce of water, and has an area or 
caliber equal to the one thousandth 
part of that of the top board of the 
bellows, an ounce of water in the 
tube will balance a thousand ounces 
resting on the bellows. The upper 
surface, or top board, being free to 
rise, may be used for raising weights, 




Fig. 10. 




64 



MECHANICAL AGENTS. 




applying pressure, &c. On the same principle, Mr. 
Fig. 11. Bramah constructed 

his hydrostatic press, 
an instrument of such 
prodigious force, that, 
by means of one no 
larger than a com- 
mon teapot, we cut 
asunder a bar of 
iron, as easily as we 
cut a slip of paste- 
board.* 

(6.) It follows, from the property of fluids which we 
have just mentioned, that their pressure against any 
surface is proportioned, not to the hulk or quantity of 
the fluid, but only to the size of that surface, and to the 
height of the fluid above it. Thus, in the cask with a 
tube inserted in it, or in a conical vessel which stands on 
the base, the pressure is just as great as though the cask 
or vessel had been throughout of the size of the larg- 
est part. And, on the other hand, if it were funnel- 
shaped, the pressure against the lower extremity would 
be no greater than though the vessel were throughout 
of the same diameter as at the bottom. If the surface 
against which the fluid presses be perpendicular, or in- 
chned, as in a dam, then, in order to find the amount 
of pressure, we multiply the number of square feet in 
that dam, — not into the whole height of the fluid, but 
into the distance from its surface to the centre of grav- 
ity of the dam. The increase of pressure, in propor- 
tion to the depth, shows the necessity of making banks 
of canals, and the sides of tubes, in which water is to be 
conveyed, stro7iger in pi^oportion to the depth. It is 
needless to make them of the same thickness through- 
out ; since, if they are strong enough for the greater 

* The piston A moves in the iron cylinder C, being made air-tight 
by the packing at B. When water is driven by the forcing pump 
G, through the small tube F E, into the cylinder, the piston is raia* 
ed, slowly, but with great power. 



LEVEL OF FLUIDS. 65 

pressure below, they will be stronger than is necessary 
for the parts above. 

From the principles now stated, we may learn the 
reason why dams, and the banks of canals or rivers, 
sometimes blow up, as it is termed. If water can in- 
sinuate itself under a bank or dam, even although the 
layer were no thicker than a dollar, the pressure of the 
water, in the canal or dam, will force it up. Similar 
effects sometimes follow from the water which settles 
beneath the foundation of buildings, if it be connected, 
in any way, with other water having considerable per- 
pendicular height. It has even been supposed, that 
partial earthquakes may have been produced, and large 
fragments of mountains detached from their bases, by 
the same cause. 

(c.) The level of fluids, — Another consequence of 
this equality of pressure in fluids, combined with their 
gravity, is, that, when a fluid is at rest, its surface is 
level. This is equally true, whether the liquid is con- 
tained in an ordinary vessel, or in a tube bent like a U, 
or in a teapot or teakettle. The fluid will stand at the 
same height, in all parts of the vessel, in one branch as 
in the other ; in the spout or nose, as in the vessel itself. 
It follows from this, that, though water, when unconfined, 
as in open canals, can never rise above its level, at any 
one point, and can never move upwards ; yet, on being 
confined in close channels, it will rise as high as its 
source, or as the point whence it came. Upon this 
principle depends the construction of fountains for 
spouting fluids ; also, those useful contrivances for con- 
\:eying water, by pipes, in a far more easy, cheap, and 
effectual, way, than by the vast structures, called aque- 
ducts, which the ancients employed to carry their sup- 
plies of water, in artificial rivers over arches, for many 
miles. In such case, the stream must have been run- 
ning down, all the way ; and consequently, a fountain, 
fed from it, could not, at its termination, furnish the 
water at the same height as at its source. Upon the 
same principle, also, namely, that a fluid at rest is al- 
6* 



66 MECHANICAL AGENTS. 

ways level, depends the construction of levelling in- 
struments, for ascertaining whether any given surface 
Fig. 12. is level, or a given Une, horizontal ; 

t- j V -^ y — fc j for finding what points are on the 
same level with any other given 
point, or how much they are below or above it. Fig. 
12 is a water level. 

(d.) Specific Gravity. — If a sohd be freely suspend- 
ed in a liquid, it will weigh less than when in air. Now, 
the upward pressure of the liquid against the bottom 
of this solid, or, in other words, the loss of weight in 
the solid, must be just equal to the pressure which 
would have been exerted against a portion of liquid 
occupying the same place ; or, in other words, must be 
just equal to the weight of a bulk of the liquid as large 
as the solid. If equal bulks of the solid and fluid 
would weigh the same, then the solid will remain freely 
suspended in the fluid, at any point, without support. 
If the solid weigh less than an equal bulk of the fluid, 
it will rise, till the part immersed is of the same bulk 
as a portion of fluid, which, if weighed, would just 
equal the ivhole iveight of the solid. If it weigh more, 
it will sink, by a force equal to the difference in weight 
of equal bulks of the solid and liquid ; and generally, a 
body of given hulk, by being immersed, loses as much 
in its iveight as an equal bulk of the fluid weighs. If, 
then, we would find the relative weights, or, what is 
the same thing, the specific gravities^ of solids, we 

* For the sake of convenience, one substance (water) is assumed 
as the standard, and its gravity being expressed by 1, the relative 
gravity of an equal bulk of any other substance will be expressed by 
a whole number or fraction, which stands for its specific gravity. 
Thus numerical tables of specific gravities are constructed. 

It might seem, at first sight, that the relative or specific gravity of 
two solids would be ascertained more readily, by simply weighing 
them in air. This would be so, if we could obtain two bodies of 
precisely the same bulk ; since it is the relative weights or densities 
only of bodies of equal bulk, that we seek. But the exact bulk of 
bodies, of irregular figure, cannot be ascertained. Thus, Hiero 
would know whether all the gold which he gave the jeweller has 
been worked up in the crown, or whether an inferior metal has been 



SPECIFIC GRAVITY. 67 

immerse them, successively, in water, or any other 
hquid, and see how much of their weight, in each case, 
is lost. If, on the contrary, we would find the relative 
weights of two or more fluids, we take the same solid, 
and immerse it, successively, in each of those fluids, 
and the weight lost, in these several cases, will show 
the relative or specific gravities of the fluids, which will 
be in the direct ratio of their densities. 

We owe the invention of the method of ascertaining 
specific gravities to Archimedes. He had been requir- 
ed, by Hiero, King of Syracuse, to determine whether 
a gold crown, which had been made for him, was adul- 
terated or not. While studying this problem, he hap- 
pened to bathe, and observed that the water in the 
bath rose, as his body was immersed. He then infer- 
red, that the rise would be always proportioned to the 
bulk of the body immersed, and that, if two bodies, of 
equal weight but unequal bulk, were plunged in the 
fluid, the rise, being directly as the bulk, would be in- 
versely as the density or specific gravity. This sug- 
gested to him a ready mode of testing the purity of the 
gold crown ; and generally, we may remark, that the 
purity of any substance, such as drugs, chemical prep- 
arations, coins, liquids, &c., may be readily ascertain- 
ed by the method of specific gravity. Different instru- 
ments have been constructed, for detecting adultera- 
tions in various substances, such as the oleometer, for 
oil, the lactometer, for milk, &c. 

mixed with it. He cannot tell by weighing the crown against the 
gold, in air, since they may have equal weights, and yet not be of 
the same degree of purity. But if, on being weighed in water, each 
loses the same proportion of its weight, this is evidence that they are 
of equal bulk, and therefore of equal density, or specific gravity. 



66 MECHANICAL AGENTS. 

CHAPTER V 

MECHANICAL AGENTS. (GRAVITY CONTINUED.) 

(c.) The gravity of aeriform bodies, such as the 
atmosphere, gases, &c., acts (in connexion with their 
inertia and elasticity) as a moving force, in the case of 
pumps, barometers, windmills, sailing-vessels, fire-en- 
gines, &c. That air has gravity or weight, may be prov- 
ed by weighing a flask, from which the air has been with- 
drawn. It will be found,^ when filled with air, some 
grains heavier than when emptied. Now, it is found, 
by experiment, that the pressure of the atmosphere on 
a square inch is equal to about fifteen pounds ; that is, 
that a column of this fluid, whose base is one inch 
square and whose height is that of the atmosphere, 
weighs fifteen pounds. Consequently, it follows, that 
a horizontal surface sustains a weight or pressure 
amounting to fifteen times as many pounds as there 
are square inches in its extent. If, then, we have a 
solid substance, with an horizontal surface ; for exam- 
ple, a piston, placed in a vertical cylinder, and there is 
no resistance below it, it will be forced down, by a me- 
chanical pressure of fifteen times as many pounds as 
there are square inches in its end ; and in this way a 
mechanical agent, of power limited only by the magni- 
tude of the piston, will be obtained. Before this force 
can be exerted, however, a vacuum must be formed ; 
that is, the air must be withdrawn from one side of the 
piston ; and, if this be done by mechanical means, as is 
the case in the pump, it is obvious, that it must require 
just as much force to do it, as will be subsequently 
gained by the pressure of the atmosphere on the other 
side. 

Again : the air may exert its moving force, by being 
applied to water. This is the case in the common 
pump. To understand the principle of this instru- 
ment, let us suppose a bent tube, Fig. 13, contain- 



PUMP. 



-BAROMETER. 



69 




ing water in the portion ABC, and open at both ends. 
The water will stand at the same height, B, in both 
branches. If, now, the air were withdrawn 
from the branch C D, the pressure of the air on 
the water at A, in the other branch, would force 
it downwards towards B, and thus cause a rise 
of the water, in the other branch, B D. It 
would continue to rise, until the weight of wa- 
ter, in the branch B D, was sufficient to bal- 
ance the pressure of the atmosphere, added to 
the weight of the water A B ; and before that 
equilibrium can take place, ^ight discharge it- 
self at D. Here, the branch B D may represent the 
barrel of the pump, A B the water in the well. 

Some notion of the common or suction 
pump may be gathered from the annexed 
diagram, (Fig. 14.) in which C L is the bar- 
rel of the pump, B a box fixed in the inside 
of the cylinder, just above the surface of the 
water in the well, and D another box, or 
piston, attached to the rod c d, and moved 
by a power applied at a. Both B and D 
are so formed, as to prevent the passing 
of any air between them and the sides, 
and have valves, b and d, opening up- 
wards, similar to the valves in a common 
bellows. If, now, the piston D be drawn 
upwards, it will evidently carry the air be- 
fore it, and leave a vacuum between itself 
and B. But as the air presses on the wa- 
ter in the well, outside of the barrel, it will force it up, 
to supply this vacuum ; and, after having passed above 
D, the valve b will be shut, by its downward pressure. 
At the returning stroke of D, the water will pass through 
the valve in D ; and, on raising D again, will be driven 
out of the spout at e. Here we see, at once, that the 
moving power is applied at a, and that the pressure of 
the air is used merely as an intermediate agent, to effect, 
with greater expedition and convenience, what might 




70 MECHANICAL AGENTS. 

have been effected directly, as in a common well, by 
the same power. 

In the barometer^ the mercury in the tube is sustained 
by the pressure of the air. If a vacuum be created 
in a glass tube, of sufficient lengtli and closed at one 
end, and if the open end be inserted in a basin of mer- 
cury, the fluid will rise to the height of twenty-nine 
or tliirty inclies, because a column of mercury of this 
height weighs just as nmch as a column of the atmos- 
Fig. 15. phere of the same base. This instrument, 
rigj (Fig. 15,) is very useful, in showing those 
igjj changes in the pressure of the atmosphere 
i|g which usually precede storms. 

If the column of the atmosphere which 
sustains the mercury becomes lighter, the 
mercury will of course flill, and vice versa. 
The instrument has also another important 
use. If we are ascending mountains, the 

« column of atmosphere above us must be con- 

stantly growing shorter, and of course light* 
er ; and hence, if we carry a barometer, the 
fall of the mercury will indicate the various heights to 
which we attain. It may be proper to add, that the 
weight of the atmosphere was not discovered till the 
sixteenth century ; and that to this discovery we owe 
the barometer, as well as many improvements in the 
construction of pumps. Previous to the time of Galileo, 
philosophers explained the ascent of fluids in a vacuum, 
by saying that Nature abhorred a vacuum : and when 
it was subsequently found that water would never as- 
cend above thirty-two feet, (the point at which its 
weight, together with the elasticity of the residual air, 
just balanced the pressure of the atmosphere,) they ex- 
plained it, by saying, that Nature's horror of a vacuum 
did not extend beyond that distance !* 

In rcind mills, where the machinery is turned by the 

* See further, on this subject, Vol. i, p. 19, &c., of a work en- 
titled, * Pursuit of Knowledge under Difliculties,' forming the four- 
teenth vohinie of * The School Library.' 



ELASTICITY. 71 

wind striking (as in undershot water-wheels) against the 
vanes of a wheel, and so, also, in vessels propelled by 
wind striking against the sails, air acts not so much by 
gravity as by inertia. To adjust these vanes, so that 
the wind will strike upon them with the greatest effect, 
and will act only while it contributes to impel the ma- 
chinery, is a problem which has exercised the most ac- 
curate experimentalists and the most profound mathe- 
maticians. It is a beautiful proof of the truly mathe- 
matical principles on which the works of creation are 
formed, that the method of arranging the sails, ultimate- 
ly adopted in the windmill, bears a striking resemblance 
to the arrangement of the feathers and wings of birds. 
These feathers are so adjusted, that, when the wing 
descends and strikes against the air, it will present the 
greatest possible surface ; whereas, when it is raised, to 
renew the stroke, it presents the least possible surface. 
So in the windmill, the position of the sail varies, on 
opposite sides of the wheel, that, in the one case it may 
receive the full force of the wind, and in the other case 
may suffer it to pass by. 

II. Elasticity. — In fire-engines, air guns, airpumps, 
&c., a new property of air is brought into view, which 
we call elasticity. It acts, in the common fire-engine, in 
conjunction with the gravity of the air, and in the air- 
gun, in conjunction with that equality of pressure, which 
is a property of aeriform bodies as well as of liquids. In 
virtue of its elasticity, the air tends to expand itself; and 
if it be condensed, or compressed into a space smaller 
than that which it naturally occupies, it will, if suffered to 
expand freely, exert a force just equal to that which has 
been employed in compressing it. Thus, in the fire- 
engine, water is forced into an airtight vessel, which had 
been previously filled with air : as the water enters, it 
crowds the air into a smaller and smaller space, by which 
means, the elasticity of the latter is so much increased, 
that it reacts upon the surface of the water, and drives 
it out through the spout of the engine. Here, the water 
is thrown out by the air, with no greater force than has 



72 MECHANICAL AGENTS. 

been previously applied to work the pistons ; so that 
there is really no gain of power. The advantage is, 
that, by interposing the air, we get an agent which acts 
by continuous pressure, and not by intermitting strokes. 
So in the airgun : by condensing air within the breech 
of the gun, we procure a force, which, on being releas- 
ed, will act instantaneously, and with a power equal to 
all the separate effects made in the process of condens- 
ing it. If we attempted, by mere manual force, to pro- 
ject a bullet, we should produce but httle effect. Con- 
densed air serves as a magazine, in which we can 
treasure up and combine a great number of these sepa- 
rate exertions of our strength, and cause them to act 
simultaneously. 

It may give us some impression of the value of sci- 
ence, as connected with the arts, if we consider, that 
scarcely one of the important powers which we have 
just considered was employed by the Greeks and Ro- 
mans, in the days of their greatest civilization and re- 
nown. They had neither waterwheels,^ windmills, 
nor airpumps. To procure bread for his family, a 
Greek had no flour-mills, except such as were moved 
by hand or by animals. Neither had he sawmills, to sup- 
ply boards and lumber for edifices ; nor fire-engines, to 
rescue cities and habitations from the devouring ele- 
ment ; nor hydrostatic presses, to concentrate, within a 
small compass, immense pressure ; nor metallic pipes, 
to convey water over hills and valleys, without the ex- 
pense of arches and mason work ; nor, in fine, the air- 
pump, to withdraw substances from the contact of the 
atmosphere, so as to observe the effect on combustion, 
sounds, respiration, and vegetable life. 

But, while we acknowledge the vast benefits which 

* This remark requires some qualification. Beckmann says : 
** The first certain information we have of the invention of watermills 
is not older than the time of Julius Caesar. Cattlemills continued in 
such general use, that, near three centuries afterwards, there were 
more than three hundred at Rome ; and, A. D. 398, some public enact- 
ments were made, which show that, even then, watermills were 
considered a tiew establishment." 



ELASTICITY. 73 

have been conferred by these inventions, in modern 
times, we must remember, that even yet the principles 
on which they depend are by no means generally under- 
stood. Multitudes, even of those who are called to 
deal continually with those principles, have no proper 
conception of them, and commit many blunders and 
waste a great deal of money, which a little knowledge 
would have enabled them to save. The two following 
instances will be sufficient illustration of this fact : '^ A 
respectable gentleman, of landed property, in one of 
the middle counties of Scotland, applied to a friend, a 
lecturer on chemistry and natural philosophy, in order 
to obtain his advice respecting a pump-well, which he 
had lately constructed at considerable expense. He 
told him, that, notwithstanding every exertion, he could 
not obtain a drop of w^ater from the spout, although he 
was quite sure there was plenty of water in the well, 
and although he had plastered it all around^ and block- 
ed up every crevice. When his friend inspected the 
pump, he suspected that the upper part of the well 
was airtight, and, consequently, that the atmospheric 
pressure could not act on the surface of the water in 
the well. He immediately ordered a hole to be bored, 
adjacent to the pump, when the air rushed in, with 
considerable force ; and, on pumping, the water flowed 
copiously from the spout. The gentleman was both 
overjoyed and astonished ; but it is somewhat astonish- 
ing, that neither he, nor his neighbors, nor any of the 
workmen who had been employed in its construction, 
should have been able to point out the cause of the 
defect ; but, on the other hand, should have taken the 
very opposite means for remedying it, namely, by plas- 
tering up every crevice, so as to produce a kind of va- 
cuum within the well."^ 

* Dick, on the Improvement of Society. We once knew a man to 
carry a series of aqueduct pipes to the bottom of a well sixty feet 
deep, and thence over the top down into a neighboring valley, be- 
low the level of the bottom of the well, for the purpose of supply- 
ing water to a small manufactory, as a syphon. If he had known 
that water rises in the syphon, as in the pump, in consequence of 
7 S. A. 



74 MECHANICAL AGENTS. 

After the diving-bell was invented, it was consider- 
ed desirable to devise some means of remaining, for 
any length of time, under water, and rising at pleasure, 
without assistance. '^ Some years ago, an ingenious 
individual proposed a project, by which this end was to 
be accomplished. It consisted in sinking the hull of a 
ship, made quite watertight, with the decks and sides 
strongly supported by shores, with the only entry secur- 
ed by a stout trapdoor, in such a manner, that, by dis- 
engaging from within, the weights employed to sink it, 
it might rise of itself to the surface. To render the 
trial more satisfactory and the result more striking, the 
projector himself made the first essay. It was agreed, 
that he should sink in twenty fathoms water, and rise 
again, without assistance, at the expiration of twenty- 
four hours. Accordingly, making all secure, fastening 
down his trapdoor, and provided with all necessaries, 
as well as with the means of making signals, to indicate 
his situation, this unhappy victim of his own ingenuity 
entered, and was sunk. No signal was made, and the 
time appointed elapsed. An immense concourse of 
people had assembled to witness his rising, but in vain ; 
for the vessel was never seen more. The pr^essure of 
the water at so great a depth had no doubt been com- 
pletely under-estimated ; and the sides of the vessel be- 
ing at once crushed in, the unfortunate projector per- 
ished, before he could even make the signal concerted, 
to indicate his distress.''* 

the pressure of the atmosphere, and that this pressure will force it 
up only a little more than thirty feet, he might have been spared the 
cost of the attempt and the mortification of its failure. 
* Sir J. Herschel, on the Study of Natural Philosophy. 



HEAT. 75 

CHAPTER VI 

MECHANICAL AGENTS. (INANIMATE FORCES CONTINUED.) 

III. Heat. — Having thus explained how gravity and 
elasticity are employed, as moving forces in the arts, we 
come, in the third place, to consider Heat. 

Its use as a mechanical agent depends upon the 
power which it has of expanding bodies. If a bar of 
metal be accurately measured, and then raised to a red 
heat, it will be found longer than before ; and still 
longer, if it be raised to a white heat. It is for this 
reason that the mechanic heats the iron tire of a wag- 
on or coach wheel, and the iron hoops of a cask, before 
putting them on ; and also the rivets which are used in 
binding together the iron plates of which boilers are 
made. Being, by this means, expanded, they are easily 
fitted to their places, while the contraction which fol- 
lows binds the adjacent parts together, and holds them 
firmly. 

A striking instance of the use, as a mechanical agent, 
to which this expansive power of metals may be appli- 
ed, occurred some years since, in Paris. The weight 
of the roof of the abbey of St. Martin was forcing 
the walls asunder, and the following method was taken 
to restore them to their perpendicular position. Holes 
were made, at opposite points, in several parts of the 
wall, through which strong iron bars were introduced, 
so as to extend across the building, their ends project- 
ing outside the walls. Large nuts were placed upon 
their ends, and screwed up, so as to press upon the 
walls. Every alternate bar was then heated, by pow- 
erful lamps, so that its length was increased by expan- 
^ sion, and the nuts, before in close contact with the walls, 
retired to some distance from them : the nuts were then 
screwed up to the walls, and the bars cooled. The pro- 



76 MECHANICAL AGENTS. 

cess of cooling restored the length of the bars to what 
it had been before the heat was applied, and the nuts 
were drawn together by an immense force. The same 
process being repeated with the intermediate bars, and 
this being continued, the walls of the building were 
gradually restored to their perpendicular position. 

The expansion of bodies by heat affords us the 
means of constructing instruments to measure differ- 
ent degrees of temperature. The principal of these 
are, the common thermometer, and the pyrometer of 
Wedge wood. The thermometer consists of a small 
tube, terminating at the bottom in a bulb, contain- 
ing mercury or spirits of wine. The air having been 
previously expelled by heat, the tube is closed at the 
top, to prevent its return, and a vacuum being thus 
produced, above the fluid, it is free to expand when 
heat is applied. This expansion is indicated by a rise 
of the fluid ; whereas the contraction produced by 
cold causes the fluid to descend. A scale, attached 
to the tube, and divided into degrees, measures these 
variations, and thus indicates the temperature. In di- 
viding this scale, it is usual, in the first place, to fix the 
two points, at which the mercury stands, when the tem- 
perature is suflSciently low to freeze water, and sufficient- 
ly high to boil it. These are obtained, by immersing 
the instrument with the scale, first into melting ice, and 
afterwards into boiling water. The intermediate space 
is then divided into a certain number of degrees, the 
number being different in different kinds of thermome- 
ters. If the bore of the tube be throughout of the 
same size, these spaces or degrees will be equal in 
length ; otherwise, they will be unequal. It is evident, 
that that portion of the tube to which they correspond 
must always be of the same capacity. 

The pyrometer is an instrument used for measuring 
higher degress of temperature than are indicated by 
ordinary thermometers. It depends upon a property 
of pure clay, which forms an exception to the general 



STEAM. 77 

expansion of bodies by heat.* This clay, when much 
heated, contracts. The contraction is first observed 
when the clay acquires a red heat, and continues to in- 
crease, until it vitrifies ; the reduction of bulk being 
permanent, and amounting, in the whole, to about one 
fourth. In order to take advantage of this property of 
clay, Mr. Wedgewood constructed a gauge of brass, 
consisting of two straight pieces, two feet long, fixed 
upon a plate a little nearer to each other at one end 
than at the other, the space between them, at the wid- 
est end, being five tenths of an inch, and at the narrow- 
est, three tenths. The converging pieces were divided 
into inches and tenths of inches. The pieces of clay, 
the contractions of which were to be measured, were 
of a cylindrical form, flattened on one side, and of 
such a size as to be exactly adapted to the wider end 
of the gauge, so that it might slide further in, in pro- 
portion to the degree of heat applied to it. A scale 
was adapted to this clay, each degree of which is equal 
to one hundred and thirty degrees of the ordinary scale 
in thermometers. The temperature of red heat, which 
corresponds to one thousand seventy-seven and a half 
degrees of Fahrenheit's scale, was assumed as the com- 
mencement of Wedgewood's ; and it was found, that 
the instrument could be used to measure temperatures 
as high as thirty-two thousand two hundred and seven- 
ty-seven degrees of Fahrenheit. 

Steam. — It is evident, that the forces of expansion 
and contraction, by heat and cold, which we have now 
considered, act through spaces so limited, that they can 

* Another remarkable exception to this law is found in freezing 
water. When near the freezing point, water does not contract, as 
we should expect, from the increase of cold, but, on the contrary, ex- 
pands ; so that a given quantity fills more space, when frozen, than 
it did previously. It of course becomes specifically lighter, which 
may suggest to us the reason of this apparent anomaly. If ice were 
heavier than water, it would subside, as soon as formed, in successive 
flakes to the bottom : this process would continue, until the whole of 
the water, however deep, would become solid. The effects would 
evidently be most disastrous. 

7# 



78 MECHANICAL AGENTS. 

be used as mechanical agents very rarely, and only un- 
der peculiar circumstances."* 

A much more important agency, which heat exerts 
in the mechanic arts, results from its power of changing 
the form of bodies. With the operations of this power 
we are all familiar, in the case of water. Below the 
temperature of thirty-two degrees of the common ther- 
mometer, that substance exists in the solid form, and is 
called ice. Above that temperature, it passes into the 
liquid state, and is called water ; and when raised to 
the temperature of two hundred and twelve degrees, 
under ordinary circumstances, it passes into the aeri- 
form state, and is called vapor. It is to this last change 
that we wish, at present, principally to call the atten- 
tion of the reader. 

* It may not be irrelevant to notice, here, the injurious effect which 
is sometimes exerted in the arts, by the expansive power oi heat. In 
warm weather, for example, it lengthens the pendulum rod of a clock, 
and causes it to go too slow ; a derangement which we shall better 
appreciate, when we are told, that a difference of the one hundredth 
part of an inch, in the length of the rod, will occasion a loss of ten 
seconds in twenty-four hours. This irregularity in the going of a clock 
is corrected, most commonly, by means of what is termed the grid- 
iron pendulum, — the rod being composed of several parallel bars, like 
those of a gridiron. These bars, being of diflerent metals, expand 
unequally, and serve, therefore, to compensate the irregularities of 
each other. Again, when we suddenly heat one side of a glass ves- 
sel, the great expansion causes it to break. If the heat is applied to 
both sides, at the same time, so that they heat and expand, equally, 
there is little danger of breaking. In JVature, the expansive power 
of heat produces the most salutary eflects, by creating currents of 
air, which carry oW superfluous heat from one part of the earth, 
while they serve to mitigate the severity of cold at other parts. 

The effect of heat, in expanding bodies, is strikingly exemplified, 
also, in the immense system of steam-pipes, which are frequently 
employed to heat manufactories, extending, in some cases, to three 
hundred feet, in a straight line. " When fire-proof factories, of iron 
and brick, were first built, in England, the columns, which supported 
the successive floors, being hollow, were intended to admit steam, 
and to be the channels of communicating heat to the apartments. It 
was soon found, however, that the lengthening and shortening of a 
colunmar range of eighty or ninety feet high, by a changing temper- 
ature ranging as high as one hundred and seventy degreed of Fahren- 
heit, was so considerable, as to impair the stability of the most solid 
edifices. Hence horizontal steam-pipes were substituted, being sus- 
pended near the ceiling, by swinging rods of iron, and so adjusted, 
as to give free play to the expansion and contraction." — Vr, Ure. 



STEAM. 79 

In the transition of water from the Hquid state to the 
state of vapor, or steam, an immense change of bulk 
takes place. In this change, a solid inch of water en- 
larges its size about one thousand seven hundred and 
twenty-eight times, and forms one thousand seven hun- 
dred and twenty-eight solid inches of steam. This 
expansion takes place, accompanied with a certain force 
or pressure, by which the vapor has a tendency to 
burst the bounds of any vessel which contains it. The 
steam which fills one thousand seven hundred and 
twenty-eight solid inches, at the temperature of two 
hundred and twelve degrees, will, if cooled below that 
temperature, return back to the liquid form, and occu- 
py only one solid inch, leaving one thousand seven 
hundred and twenty-seven solid inches vacant ; and if 
it be included in a close vessel, it will leave the sur- 
faces of that vessel free from the internal pressure, to 
which they were subject before the return of the water 
to the liquid form. 

If it be possible, therefore, alternately to convert 
water into vapor, by heat, and to reconvert the vapor 
into water, by cold, we shall be enabled, alternately, to 
submit any surface to a pressure equal to the elastic 
force of the steam, and to relieve it from that pressure, 
so as to permit it to move in obedience to any other 
force which may act upon it. Or, again ; suppose that 
we are enabled to expose one side of a movable body 
to the action of water converted into steam, at the mo- 
ment that we relieve the other side from the like pres- 
sure, by reconverting the steam, which acts upon it, 
into water ; the movable body will be impelled by the 
unresisted pressure of the steam on one side. When 
it has moved a certain distance, in obedience to this 
force, let us suppose that the effects are reversed. Let 
the steam, which pressed it forwards, be now recon- 
verted into water, so as to have its action suspended : 
and, at the same moment, let steam, raised from water 
by heat, be caused to act on the other side of the mov- 
able body ; the consequence will obviously be, that it 



80 MECHANICAL AGENTS. 

will now change the direction of its motion, and return, 
in obedience to the pressure excited on the opposite side. 

'' Sucli is, in fact, the operation of an ordinary low- 
pressure steam-engine. The piston, or plug which 
plays in the cylinder, is the movable body to which we 
have referred. The vapor of water is introduced upon 
one side of that piston, at the moment that a similar 
vapor is converted into water on the other side, and 
the piston moves by the unresisted action of the steam. 
When it has arrived at the extremity of the cylinder, 
the steam, which just urged it forwards, is reconverted 
into water, and the piston is relieved from its action. 
At the same moment, a fresh supply of steam is intro- 
duced upon the other side of the piston, and its pres- 
sure causes the piston to be moved in a direction con- 
trary to its former motion. Thus the piston is movea 
in the cylinder, alternately in the one direction and in 
the other, with a force equivalent to the pressure of the 
steam which acts upon it. A strong metal rod pro- 
ceeds from this piston, and communicates with proper 
machinery, by which the alternate motion of the piston, 
backwards and forwards or upwards and downwards, 
in the cylinder, may be communicated to whatever 
body is intended to be moved." 

'^ The power of such a machine will obviously de- 
pend partly on the magnitude of the piston, or the mov- 
able surface which is exposed to the action of the 
steam ; and partly on the intensity of the pressure of the 
steam itself. The object of converting the steam into 
water by cold, upon that side of the piston towards 
which the motion takes place, is to relieve the piston 
from all resistance to the moving power. This renders 
it unnecessary to use steam of a very high pressure, in- 
asmuch as it will have no resistance to overcome, ex- 
cept the friction of the piston with the cylinder, and 
the ordinary resistance of the load which it may have 
to move. Engines constructed upon this principle, 
not requiring, therefore, steam of a great pressure, have 
been generally called, ^low-pressure engines.' The 



STEAM, 



81 



reconversion of the steam into water requires a con- 
stant and abundant supply of cold water, and a fit ap- 
paratus for carrying away that which becomes heated 
by cooling the steam, and for supplying its place by a 
fresh quantity of cold water. It is obvious, that such 
an apparatus is incompatible with great simplicity and 
lightness, nor can it be applied to cases where the en- 
gine is worked under circumstances in which a fresh 
supply of water cannot be had."*" 

*The following view, Fig. 16, of Watt's double-acting condensing 
steam-engine, will render this description more intelligible to the 




young reader. A, boiler ; B, steam-pipe, conveying the steam to 
the cylinder, C ; D, eduction-pipe, which conducts the steam from 



82 MECHANICAL AGENTS. 

" The reconversion of steam into water, or, as it is 
technically called, the condensation of steam, is, how- 
ever, by no means necessary to the effective operation 
of a steam-engine. From what has been above said, it 
will be understood, that this effect relieves the piston 
of a part of the resistance which is opposed to its mo- 
tion. If that part of the resistance were not removed, 
the pressure of steam, acting upon the other side, would 
be affected in no other way than by having a greater 
load or resistance to overcome ; and if that pressure 
were proportionately increased, the effective power of 
the machine would remain the same. It follows, there- 
fore, that, if the steam upon that side of the piston 
towards which the motion is made were not condensed, 
the steam, urging the piston forwards on the other side, 
would require to have a degree of intensity, greater 
than the steam in a low-pressure engine, by the amount 
of the pressure of the uncondensed steam on the other 
side of the piston.'^ 

^' An engine, working on this principle, has there- 
fore been called a high-pressure engine. Such an 
engine is relieved from the incumbrance of all the con- 
densing apparatus, and of the large supply of cold wa- 
ter necessary for the reduction of steam to the liquid 
form ; for, instead of being so reduced, the steam is in 
this case simply allowed to escape into the atmosphere. 
The operation, therefore, of high-pressure engines will 
be readily understood. The boiler, producing steam 
of a very powerful pressure, is placed in communication 
with a cylinder, furnished, in the usual manner, with a 
piston ; the steam is allowed to act upon one side of the 
piston, so as to impel it from the one end of the cylin- 
der to the other. When it has arrived there, the com- 
munication with the boiler is reversed, and the steam 

the cylinder to the condenser, E ; F, air-puinp, which removes the 
water and air from the condenser ; G G, cistern of cold water, sur- 
rounding the condenser ; II II, pump which supplies the cistern, G, 
with cold water ; I, cistern containing hot water, from the condens- 
er ; K, pump to convey the hot water from the cistern, I, to the 
boiler, A. 



STEAM. 83 

is introduced on the other side of the piston, while the 
steam, which has just urged the piston forwards, is 
permitted to escape into the atmosphere. It is evident, 
that the only resistance to the motion of the piston, 
here, is the pressure of that portion of steam, which 
does not escape into the air ; which pressure will be 
equal to that of the air itself, inasmuch as the steam 
will continue to escape from the cylinder, as long as its 
elastic force exceeds that of the atmosphere. In this 
manner, the alternate motion of the piston in the cylin- 
der will be continued ; the efficient force which urges 
it being estimated by the excess of the actual pressure 
of the steam from the boiler above the atmospheric 
pressure. The superior simplicity and lightness of the 
high-pressure engine must now be apparent ; and these 
qualities recommend it strongly for all purposes in which 
the engine itself must be moved from place to place. ""^ 

Mr. Gordon an engineer thus enumerates some of the 
applications of this plastic power, when treating of the 
substitution, in England, of inanimate for animate pow- 
er, in locomotion. '' Considered in its application to 
husbandry, the cottager looks forth upon the neat pal- 
ing which fences his dwelhng ; it was sawed by steam. 
The spade with which he digs his garden, the rake, the 
hoe, the pick-axe, the scythe, the sickle, — every imple- 
ment of rural toil which ministers to his necessities, are 
produced by steam. Steam bruises the oil-cake which 
feeds the farmer's cattle ; moulds the ploughshare 
which overturns his fields ; forms the shears which clip 
his flock ; and cards, spins, and weaves, the produce. 

" Applied to architecture, we find the Briarean arms 
of the steam-engine every where at work. Stone is 
cut by it, marble polished, cement ground, mortar mix- 
ed, floors sawed, doors planed, chimney-pieces carved, 
lead rolled for roofs and drawn for gutters, rails formed, 
gratings and bolts forged, paints ground and mixed, 

* See Edinburgh Review, No. Ill, art. Inland Transportation, 
In Fig. 17, on the next page, a view of the internal construction of a 
locomotive high-pressure steam-engine will enable the reader the bet- 



84 



MECHANICAL AGENTS. 



paper made and stained, worsted dyed and carpet wove, 
mahogany veneered, door-locks ornamented, curtains 
and furniture made, printed, and measured ; fringes, tas- 




sels, and bell-ropes, chair-covers and chair-nails, bell- 
wires, linens, and blankets, manufactured ; china and 
earthen-ware turned ; glass cut, and pier-glass formed ; 
the drawing-room, dining-room, kitchen, pantry, closets, 
&c., all owe to steam their most essential requisites. 

terto understand this description. BB, boiler ; C, chimney ; D, door 
by which fuel is introduced to the fire, F ; P, Piston ; S, steam-pipe. 



STEAM. 85 

" Should the question be asked, what has enabled 
the inferior proprietors to wear two hats a year instead 
of going bare-headed or sporting the bonnet which their 
fathers wore ; what has clothed them in suits of excellent 
broadcloth, and given them ability to ruffle it with the 
first-born of the land ; what has donned for their wives, 
ladies' apparel, made their boys rejoice in a plurality of 
suits ; and, in the bridal hour, busked their daughters 
in robes, delicate in texture as the spider's web, beauti- 
ful in color as the rainbow's hues, and for elegance such 
as never in their grandame's younger days, even Duch- 
esses wore ; what plaited her bonnet, tamboured her 
net, wove her laces, knitted her stockings, veneered her 
comb, flowered her ribands, gilded her buttons, sewed 
her shoes, and even fashioned the rosette that orna- 
mented their ties ? The answer is, — steam." 

We have thus shown, how heat may be employed in 
producing motion. It may be proper to remark, in 
concluding the subject, that this is not the only nor 
perhaps the most important use, to which that power- 
ful agent may be applied in the arts. Heat forms an 
almost universal fuser, which enables us to reduce the 
most refractory substances, and to overcome degrees 
of cohesion which seem to defy every other agency. 
It serves not only to prepare our food and warm our 
habitations, but also to smelt ores, and rende** metals 
malleable ; to harden clay for the various uses of the 
builder and the housekeeper ; and to extract, from mix- 
tures of alkali and sand, that beautiful substance, which 
decorates our tables, reflects our persons, and guides 
the feeble vision of age and infirmity over the page of 
wisdom, and in the pursuits of industry. 

To procure this principle, therefore, by artificial means, 
and to apply it to the various purposes of life, must be 
one of the most important and comprehensive of all the 
arts. It is an art, hov/ever, which has received com- 
paratively but little attention. The chemical laws of 
heat have been investigated, with equal ingenuity and 
success. But the appUcation of these laws to the pro- 
8 s. A. 



86 MECHANICAL AGENTS. 

cess of producing and using heat has been less studied, 
and has by no means made the progiess, which might 
have been anticipated, from its importance. One rea- 
son of it may be, that mankind have been so long em- 
ployed in building fires, and applying heat to its various 
uses, that they cannot be persuaded that they need in- 
struction in regard to a subject so famihar ; and they 
are slow, therefore, to study it on strict and philosophi- 
cal principles. Another reason undoubtedly is, that 
we are usually so engrossed with the object to be at- 
tained by the use of heat, and have reason to be 
so well satisfied with our success, that we have felt 
little temptation to scrutinize the means employed. 
Still, it is an unquestionable truth, that the economy 
of heat has not yet passed its infancy, and is probably 
destined to undergo a great, and, if we mistake not, a 
speedy, revolution. It will be our object, in the re- 
maining paragraph of this Chapter, to state some of the 
defects which appear to characterize this art, in its 
present state, and some of the most important objects 
which appear to be still unattained, at least in ordinary 
instruments. 

The greatest want, connected with the practical 
economy of heat, is that of fixed principles^ to regulate 
the construction of furnaces and other instruments. 
They are now too generally made at random, or accord- 
ing to rules which have been established only by cus- 
tom, and for which no sufficient reason can be assigned. 
The true basis, on which all such constructions should 
rest, must be found, it is presumed, in the discoveries 
which have been made by chemical philosophers, re- 
specting the diflferent radiating and conducting powers 
of various substances and surfaces, as well as respecting 
the nature of combustion and the capacity of certain 
principles for supporting it. These, if properly consid- 
ered, would suggest the requisite conditions for gener- 
ating heat, which must always be the same ; and also 
the proper means of applying or using it, which should 
evidently vary, with the object to be attained. Not 
the least among the errors which are generally commit- 



MACHINERY EMPLOYED IN THE ARTS. 87 

tedj by practical men, seems to be, that these two pro- 
cesses, so essentially distinct, and which often actually 
counteract each other, are confounded, and frequently 
carried on in the same apartment. A furnace, to gen- 
erate heat advantageously, should evidently be raised 
to a very high temperature, which can be effected only 
by surrounding it with non-conducting substances, and 
by giving to its exterior the color and smoothness least 
favorable to radiation. But these very circumstances, 
which fit a furnace for creating intense heat, entirely 
unfit it for distributing that heat to an apartment, or 
applying it to any external use. Hence might be in- 
ferred the necessity of having two parts to the appara- 
tus ; — one for generating or producing heat, and the 
other for using it. There are defects, also, in the 
prevailing mode of supplying air to the fuel to be con- 
sumed, in the form which is given to that fuel as a 
mass ; in the practice of adding cold fuel frequently to 
the fire, by means of which its temperature is reduced, 
and its useful effect diminished ; — on which we cannot 
enlarge in this place, but which have a material influ- 
ence unfavorable alike to economy, convenience, and 
efficiency."^ 



CHAPTER VH 

MACHINERY EMPLOYED IN THE ARTS. 

In order to employ the mechanical agents, which 
have now been considered, it is generally convenient, 
and even necessary, to interpose between them and the 
work to be done some contrivance, called a tool or ma- 

* Since this paragraph was written, (1834,) the introduction of the 
hot blast into furnaces has created a new era in the history of indus- 
try. That, with other related improvements, was intended to be 
foreshadowed in the passage above, being, at that time, well known 
to the writer. A friend and relative of his, long known to the public, 
had proposed and introduced it, on a limited scale, some years before, 
and no doubt was entertained that it was destined to early and uni- 
versal adoption. 



88 MACHINERY EMPLOYED IN THE ARTS. 

chine. Before we proceed to examine the various arts, 
it will be important to attend, for a moment, to the con- 
struction and use of these machines. 

Man does not excel the inferior animals more in in- 
telligence than in bodily structure. If he has reason, 
which enables him to master every science, so has he a 
hand, which fits him for the practice of every art. The 
bee and the beaver have intelligence, sufficient to guide 
them in rearing habitations and procuring food ; and they 
have natural implements, which qualify them perfectly 
for the work. They need no tools, except the teeth 
and extremities with which Nature has provided them. 
Man, on the other hand, has an intelhgence, which 
qualifies him for every office of duty or pleasure ; and, 
instead of being fitted with natural implements, which 
could be employed only in one kind of work, he has 
the hand, fitted to fabricate and grasp every species of 
artificial tool, and equally ready for every occasion of 
peace and of war. 

The powers of the human hand have been, in all 
ages, the subject of admiration. " By it," to use the 
language of Galen, (Book i., chapter 4,) " man erects 
the most various habitations, intrenches himself within 
camps or fenced cities, and weaves the garment that 
protects him from the Summer's heat or Winter's cold. 
With this, he forms the various nets and snares, which 
give him dominion, as well over the inhabitants of the 
water as of the air and earth ; constructs the lyre and 
lute, and the numerous instruments employed in the 
several arts of life ; erects altars and shrines to the im- 
mortal gods ; and lastly, by means of the same instru- 
ment, he bequeaths to posterity, in writing, the intel- 
lectual treasures of his own divine imagination ; and 
hence we, who are living at this day, are enabled to 
hold converse with Plato and Aristotle, and all the ven- 
erable sages of antiquity." Indeed, without this par- 
ticular formation, man, with whatever sagacity he might 
be endowed, would no longer be the being he now is. 
" No bounteous grant of intellect, were it the pleasure 
of Heaven to make such grant," could raise him to his 



LEVER. WHEEL AND AXLE. 89 

present lofty rank, in the scale of power and enjoy- 
ment, if, instead of the hand, he had been formed with 
the claw of the tiger, or the talons of the eagle, or the 
hoofs of the elephant. 

It is not without reason, then, that man has been de- 
fined, somewhat ludicrously, to be a tool-making ani- 
maL By nature, he is destitute of the tools which are 
necessary, in order to supply his wants; but finding 
himself endowed with a hand, admirably fitted to make 
and wield these tools, he tasks his ingenuity, and soon 
produces them. How wonderfully does even the rud- 
est cutting instrument enlarge the powers of the human 
hand ! the fabrication of many things, which were 
previously beyond its means, becomes easy, and that 
of others possible, with great labor. Add the saw to 
the knife or the hatchet, and other works become pos- 
sible, and a new course of difficult operations is brought 
into view : and thus does man perpetually advance in 
power and resources, till at last he provides himself 
machines, of the utmost complexity and perfection ; 
machines, which supersede even the hand itself, and 
perform the most delicate and difficult operations, with 
all the precision and regularity of an intelligent being. 

All machines, however complicated, are formed by 
combining a few simpler machines, commonly called 
the mechanical powers. Under this head are usually 
enumerated the leve?*, the wheel and axle, the inclined 
plane, the screw, the wedge, the pulley and rope. Of 
the lever, we have examples in the common crowbar 
and handspike ; in the pump-handle ; in the hammer, 
when used in drawing a nail ; in a door opened by the 
hand ; in steelyards, scissors, &c.^ Of the wheel and 
axle, we have examples, in the windlass used for rais- 
ing heavy weights, where the power is applied to the 
drcumference of the wheel, and the weight, or resist- 

* Levers are of three kinds. Fig. 18, is a lever of the first kind, 
resting on the fulcrum, at F, to raise the weight, W, the power being 
applied at P. Fig. 19, is a lever of the second kind ; W, the weight, 
being between the fulcrum, F, and the power, at P. Fig. 20, is a lever 

8* 



90 



MACHINERY EMPLOYED IN THE ARTS. 



ance, to the axle ; also, in the capstan used on ship- 
board ; in the crane ; and in the grindstone, where 
the instrument, pressed on the stone, forms the weight 
or resistance, the power being applied to a crank, 
which corresponds to the wheel. It is obvious, that 
this wheel and axle is, in principle, merely a lever, with 
the addition of a rotary motion around the fulcrum, or 
axis.* 

of the third kind ; the power, P, being applied between F, the ful- 
crum, and W, the weight. 

Fig. 18. Fig. 19. Fig. 20. 

P |jj(||limi-t ||||,|i;l 




w© 



* Fig. 21 represents a 
wheel and axle ; P, the 
power applied to the cir- 
cumference of the wheel ; 
C, a cylinder, or axle ; and 
W, the weight to be moved. 



Fig. 22 is the same, with 
a crank, P, in place of the 
wheel. 



PULLEY AND ROPE. 



91 




Fig. 24. 



Of the inclined plane, Fig. 23, Fig. 23. 

we have an example in the plank, 
which is used in letting down heavy 
casks into a cellar, or drawing them 
up ; and the screw is in principle the same ; being 
an inclined plane of the spiral form, like 
the stairs which we sometimes see in the 
inside or outside of a building, winding 
to the summit. In some cases, the spi- 
ral or screw is fixed, and the power is ap- 
plied to a nut, as in Fig. 24. In other 
cases, the nut is fixed, and the screw, with 
the weight attached, is moved through it by being turn- 
ed, as in Fig. 25. The wedge. Fig. 26, is another spe- 




Flg. 25. 



Fig. 26. 



^ 




c 



cies of inclined plane, being formed, in most cases, of 
two inclined planes united at their bases. In addition 
to the common wedge, we have, as examples of this ma- 
chine, various cutting tools, such as axes, knives, chisels, 
&c. ; the nails and spikes to be driven into wood ; the 
coulter of the plough, and the blade of a spade, &c. 

The pulley and rope are sufficiently familiar, without 
other examples than in the annexed figures, (27, 28, 29,) 

Fig. 27. Fig. 28. Fig. 29. 





92 MACHINERY EMPLOYED IN THE ARTS. 



and are the same in principle with the lever. It is ap- 
parent, therefore, that the simple machines may \)e re 
duced to three classes : 1. The lever, and the icheel 
and axle. 2. The inclined plane, screiv, and wedge. 
3. The pulley and rope raachine. It is by combining 
these machines, in various ways, that the machinery 
now employed in the arts, which is so various, and in 
many places so intricate, has been constructed. We 
propose, in this Chapter, to consider the several objects, 
some one or more of which it is always proposed to at- 
tain, by the use of machinery. 

1. The first is. to divide a resistance too great to be 
overcome by a single effort of the moving power, so 
that it may be oi:ercorrve by a series of actions, or by 
the continual action of the moving pou:er. If a man 
were to apply all his strength directly to a rock or to 
a box of merchandise, which he wishes to elevate to 
some ix)int. he might not be able to move it at all ; or 
at least might not be al>le to raise it to the required 
height. But with a lever, or a wheel and axle, or a 
pulley, he effects hLs object with ease. Here, he does 
not actually gain f>ower. He gains the means of act- 
ing upon the resistance by degrees. It is like taking 
this rock to pieces, and carrying up the parts separate- 
ly ; and a little reflection must convince us, that when 
we employ a machine, we exert not only all the force 
which would Fxj requisite in such a case, if we had not 
used the machine, but also as much more, as is neces- 
sary to overcome the friction and weight of that ma- 
chine. It is a great error, and one to which we can- 
not to<^> often advert, to suppose that, by any mechani- 
cal device, forr^ can be generated, or even augmented. 
Misled by such a notion, projectors have imagined that 
they could adjust levers, pendulums, (tc, that would 
act with a fKjwer greater than that which they derived 
from STiiTie exU.rnal source. It is obvious, and should 
ever be kept in mind, that the inertia of matter, in 
r which, no particle of it ever moves, except in 
e to s^>me force impress^'d upon it, and in pro- 



.1 



PULLEY AND ROPE. 99 

portion to that force, renders all such projects entirely 
impracticable. Universally, to overcome a resistance, a 
force must be exerted equal to that resistance : and, as 
we have already said, if it be exerted through a ma- 
chine, the force must be absolutely greater than the re- 
sistance. 

But, on the other hand, force is made up of velocit}- 
and the quantity of matter : and hence, if the mass to 
be moved, or the resistance to be overcome, be much 
hea^■ier than the moving power, we equaUze them, if 
we can, by giving to the resi^tajice a much slower mo- 
tion than that which the power has : thus making the 
greater velocity of the power compensate for its inferior 
weight, or mass. In all these cases, however, time 
must be lost : and it must be remembered, as a general 
principle, that whatever advantage is gained in respect 
to power is lost in respect to time,^ A man with a 
machine does no more than in the same time he woidd 
have done \nthout a macliine, proWded he could have 
divided the resistance into separate parts. In many 
cases, however, this is impossible : and hence we are 
enabled, by the aid of machines, to eflect what, with- 
out them, would have been altogether beyond our 
power. 

•2. The second use of machinery is to enable us, by 
changing the direction of a force, to apply it moir ad- 
vantageously. Thus, in lifting a weight out of a well, 
or raising ore out of a mine, it is obAiotis, with how 
much more eflect a man can work, at the arm of a 
windlass, than he could draw directly upon the rope, 
stooping over the well. There are other cases, in 
which machinery, by changing the direction of a force 
that, in its natural state, is useless, enables us to apply 
it to impAirtant pur^xvses. For example : in a steam- 

♦ Archimedes is said to hnve Kvisted, tliat, if he had a place ott 

which to stand, he would move the earth. Had such a plac« been 

furnished him, and had he boon able, moreover, to mov« witk tke 

^ t^lociiy of a cannon ball, it would have taken him a millkMi of j«a» 

have shifted the earth only the twenty-seven hundred tbottsaiidtll 

■ f .W in inch. 



94 



MACHINERY EMPLOYED IN THE ARTS. 



1 



boat, the piston of a steam-engine alternately ascends 
and descends, along a perpendicular ;* whereas, the 
vessel, which it serves to propel, is required to move in 
a continued horizontal line. On the other hand, the 
stream of a saw-mill moves in a continued horizontal 
or perpendicular line, while the saw, which it drives, is 
required to have an alternating perpendicular move- 
ment. In the first case, the rectilinear alternating mo- 
tion is converted into a circular one, by means of the 
crank, a contrivance which, in principle, is much like 
the common winch, or like the key which winds a 
clock ; and then the circular motion of the water- 
wheels, acting against the water, carries the vessel for- 
ward in a continued right line. As a general rule, a 
circular can be converted into a continuous rectilinear 
motion, and vice versa, by means of a toothed wheel 
and rack, as in Fig. 30 ; a continuous circular into an 
alternate rectilinear, as in the saw-mill. Fig. 31 ; or 



Fig. 30. 



Fig. 31. 




r 



into an alternate circular, as in the balance-wheel of a 
watch. Fig. 32, and the pendulum of a clock. Fig. 33, 
(see page 95,) by means of cams, racks, &c. 

3. The third object for which machinery is employ- 
ed is, to change the velocity. In some cases, the work 
to be done, as spinning, turning, &c., requires a great 
velocity. In others, the velocity requires to be smaller 
than that of the moving power, as in the smoke-jack. 
This change may be effected in various ways ; for eil^ 

* We speak here of the engines common in this part of the country. 
On the Mississippi and its trihutaripsi. the piston has a horizontal mo- 
tion. 



WHEEL AND AXLE. 



95 



Fig. 32. 



Fig. S3. 





ample, by the lever. If it be a lever of the first kind,^ 
it diminishes or increases velocity, according as the 
arm, to which the power is applied, is longer or shorter 
tlian the other arm. In a lever of the third kind, ve- 
locity is always increased, since the resistance is further 
from the fulcrum than the power. Hence, in the hu- 
man arm, sheep-shears, tongs, &c., which are levers of 
the third kind, a great part of the power is expended 
in procuring velocity, and the resistance, therefore, must 
be proportionally diminished. 

The machine most frequently employed, 
however, in transmitting force and regula- 
ting velocity, is the wheel and axle. If a 
band pass from the circumference of one 
wheel to that of another and a smaller one, 
as in Fig. 34, it is evident, that, while the first 
auljl greater revolves once, the second must 
revolve as many times as its circumference 
is less than that of the larger. This is the 

* See pages 89, 90, Figs. 18, 19, 20, for representations of the dif- 
ferent kinds of levers. 



Fig. 34. 




96 



MACHINERY EMPLOYED IN THE ARTS. 



Fig. 35. 



case with the spinning-wheel. Here, if the thread were 
twisted directly by the fingers, little work could be done. 
But, by applying the power to a large wheel, which, by 
means of a band, gives motion to a small one, called the 
spindle, a great velocity is created, and not only more 
work is done, but it is done much better. Sometimes, 
the band passes from the circumference of one wheel 
to the axle of another, when there is a much greater 
gain in velocity. As bands are liable to shp, and can- 
not be employed where the resistance is very great, 

or the machinery is 
very smooth, machin- 
ists have substituted 
teeth, cut in the cir- 
cumference of wheels, 
and pinions raised on 
their axes, as in Fig. 
35. We have exam- 
ples of these in the 
watch, in common 
mills, &c. 

In the larger and more important machinery, means 
are sometimes adopted, to increase velocity, different 
from any that I have yet mentioned. For example : 
in converting cast into wrought iron, a mass of metal, 
of about a hundred weight, is heated almost to a white 
heat, and placed under a heavy hammer, moved by 
water or steam power. This is raised by a projection 
on a revolving axis, and if the hammer derived its mo- 
mentum only from the space through which it fell, it 
would require a considerably greater time to give a 
blow. But, as it is important that the softened mass 
of red-hot iron should receive as many blows as possi- 
ble before it cools, the form of the cam or projection 
on the axis is such, that the hammer, instead of being 
lifted to a small height, is thrown up with a jerk, and^ 
almc St the instant after it strikes against a large beamj 
whi( h acts as a powerful spring, and drives it down 
the iron, with such velocity, that by these means, about 




APPLICATION OF FORCES. 97 

double the number of strokes could be made in a given 
time. In the small tilt-hammer, this is carried still 
further. By striking the tail of the tilt-hammer forci- 
bly against a small steel anvil, it rebounds, with such 
velocity, that from three to five hundred strokes are 
made in a minute. 

In the manufacture of scythes, the length of the blade 
renders it necessary that the workman should move 
readily, so as to bring every part on the anvil in quick 
succession ; this is effected, by placing him in a seat 
suspended by ropes from the ceiling ; so that he is en- 
abled, with little bodily exertion, by pressing his feet 
against the block which supports the anvil, to vary his 
distance to any required extent. It is stated by Mr. 
Babbage, from whom we borrow these two illustrations, 
that this contrivance has recently been applied in the 
manufacture of anchors, an art in which it is of still 
greater importance. 

4. A fourth object, for whicli machinery is used, is 
to regulate the application of forces ; that is, to ren- 
der the motion uniform. Most forces are of variable 
intensity : others act only by impulses ; but, by employ- 
ing regulators, governors, or fly-tvheels, tlie motion 
comnmnicated to the machinery may be rendered, in 
a good degree, uniform. In tliese contrivances, the 
machinist avails himself of the inertia of matter, in vir- 
tue of wliich it resists any change of velocity. The 
common fly-ivheel is a ponderous wheel of iron, (p. 81, 
Fig. 16, Q,) which requires a considerable force to move 
it ; but which, having acquired a certain motion, tends 
to retain it, and serves, therefore, to retard tlie machin- 
ery, when it would go too fast, or to accelerate it, when 
its motion is becoming too slow. The machinery does 
tliis, to a certain extent, itself; but where the unifor- 
mity required is very great, its self-regulating power 
needs to be aided by some instrument of this kind. 
The power which the fly-wheel can exert, in main- 
taining motion, will appear from a fact stated by Mr 
Babbage. The proprietor of a large manufactory was 

9 S. A. 



98 MACHINERY EMPLOYED IN THE ARTS. 



1 



showing to a friend the method of punching holes in 
iron plates, for the boilers of steam-engines. He held 
in his hand a piece of sheet-iron, three eighths of an 
inch thick, which he placed under the punch. Ob- 
serving, after several holes had been made, that the 
punch made its perforations more and more slowly, he 
called to the engine-man, to know what made the en- 
gine work so sluggishly, when it was found that the 
fly-wheel and punching apparatus had been detached 
from the steam-engine just at the commencement of 
his^ experiment. 

Another regulating machine is the governor, (p. 81, 
Fig. 16, g,) which resembles a pair of tongs suspended 
by the handle, and having a rotary motion. The legs will 
separate, if the velocity of rotation be very great ; and 
in the governor they are so connected with the mov- 
ing power, that, when they have been separated too 
far, or, in other words, when the macliinery is moving 
too rapidly, part of the power is cut off*. The pendu- 
lum (p. 95, Fig. 33) is another regulator, and in time- 
pieces is invaluable. 

5. Another purpose, to which machines are applied, 
is the accumulation of force. In some cases, a force 
has too little intensity, to do the required work, and it be- 
comes necessary to treasure up several separate efforts, 
to be discharged sinmltaneously. Of this, we have in- 
stances in i\\e pile-engine and the condensing machine ; 
and the fly-wheel is also used for the same purpose, in 
coining. In other cases, the force accumulated is de- 
signed to expend itself gradually, and through a consid- 
erable period, as in coiling up the spring of a watch, an 
operation which is performed in an instant, but which 
creates a power, that gives motion to a train of wheels, 
and measures the progress of time for the next thirty 
hours. 

6. Another and perhaps the most essential use of 
machinery is in enabling us to employ a vast amount 
of force which would otherwise be lost to all useful 
purposes. Thus, for example, in the operations perform- 



APPLICATION OF FORCES. 99 

ed by human strength, man can, in many instances, ex- 
ert but a small portion of his own power, without ma- 
chinery. Give him the lathe, however, or the spinning- 
wheel, or the loom, so that he can use his feet as well 
as his hands, and his efficiency is increased twenty and 
even fifty fold. A yet more striking example of this 
saving of power is furnished in the means which ma- 
chinery gives us of employing the inanimate forces of 
Nature, such as wind, steam, water, &c. These forces 
would be of little avail to mankind, without instruments 
interposed between them and the work to be done, in 
order to modify and regulate their action. Provided 
with such instruments, we are enabled to subject to our 
dominion the most tremendous agents of Nature, and 
to employ them, with ease, in operations which tran- 
scend alike the power and the dexterity of man. 

7. Machinery renders important assistance, inasmuch 
as the work turned off by it is perfectly exact. It is 
very difficult, as we must have all observed, to con- 
struct, by means of the hand alone, any solid figure 
with perfect precision ; and more especially, if that fig- 
ure be bounded by curved surfaces. It is vastly more 
difficult, however, to make several of these figures exact- 
ly alike. But by the use of the turning lathe, any num- 
ber of them may be turned off so perfectly identical, in 
figure and size, that they cannot be distinguished. Take 
the manufacture of boxes, for an example. If it be re- 
quired to make the top of a circular box, which will fit 
over the lower part, it may be done in the lathe, by 
gradually advancing the tool of the shding-rest, — the 
proper degree of tightness between the box and its lid 
being found by trial. After this adjustment, if a thous- 
and boxes are made, no additional care is required ; the 
tool is carried up to the stop, and each box will be equal- 
ly adapted to every lid. The same identity pervades all 
the arts of printing. The impressions from the same 
block, or the same copper-plate, have a similarity, which 
no labor could produce by the hand ; the minutest traces 
being transferred to all the impressions, and no omis- 



100 MACHINERY EMPLOYED IN THE ARTS. 

sions occasioned by the inattention or unskilfulness of 
the operator. 

It would be easy to extend this enumeration of the 
important objects which are attained by the use of ma- 
chinery. We have yet said nothing of its influence in 
saving the materials employed in the arts ;* in accelera- 
ting the progress of natural operations ;f and in keeping 
such a register of its own operations,! as to preclude, in 
many instances, the evils that result from the negligence 
and knavery of human agents. We have already ad- 
duced instances, sufficient to show, that it is by the power 
of machinery that we avail ourselves of the aid of natural 
agents, and employ them in ways which are at once the 
most eflfectual and yet the least expensive and trouble- 
some ; that, while it has the effect, in a great degree, to 
supersede human labor, it still multiplies the products 
of art, and renders them, at the same time, cheaper 
and more perfect. Indeed, it seems almost impossible 
to exaggerate the immense influence, which the use of 
machinery exerts on the resources and enjoyments of 
mankind. It is not merely to his greater prowess in the 
field or to his more refined policy in the cabinet, that 
civilized man owes his superiority over the savage. It 
is rather to his greater skill in pressing the powers of 
Nature into his service, and making them perform the 
tasks, and produce the fabrics, which, without machin- 
ery, would have remained unknown. When the fu- 
ture historian traces the progress of nations, he will not 
lay such stress as has been laid by former historians, on 
naval and military exploits ; on the intrigues of states- 

* An example of this may be seen, in the saving which is effected 
by substituting the saw instead of the axe or adze. 

t Striking instances of this are seen, in tanning, where, by simply 
exhausting the air from the vats, a work, which formerly required a 
year, is now performed in a few days. 

i Examples of these contrivances may be found, in manufactories, 
in the instrument which is used to ascertain the vigilance of the 
watchman employed during the night ; in a machine whicli measures 
the goods as they pass rapidly through the hands of the operator ; in 
a kind of stop-cock, which registers the quantity of a liquid or gas 
which may be drawn off in any given time from a vessel ; &c. &c. 



CONCLUSION. 101 

men and the intricacies of legislation : he will inquire 
rather, what, in each age, have been the discoveries of 
philosophers and the inventions of mechanicians ; how 
art contrived to enlarge the capacity of a people for 
production, and how enterprise and industry, intelli- 
gence and virtue, were employed in drawing, from the 
bosom of the earth, the materials of their wealth and 
happiness. 

We cannot close this part of the subject, without 
pausing to admire the provision which the Creator has 
made, for an unlimited improvement in the mechanic 
arts. The simple machines are very few in number ; 
and yet, by combining and recombining them, accord- 
ing to the end in view, new instruments may be multi- 
plied, without number and without end. It is said, 
that not less than three thousand and five hundred pa- 
tents for mechanical improvements have been taken 
out in the United States, within the last fifty years. If 
to these we add the machines which have been invent- 
ed, during the same period, in other countries, and es- 
pecially in England, — of all countries most eminent in 
the useful arts ; and if to these, again, we add the con- 
trivances which were in previous use, we shall have a 
multitude which may well astonish us. Yet these form 
but a beginning. New forces are called into action, 
new wants exhibit themselves, in this rich, enterprising, 
and elegant, age. New occasions arise for the exer- 
cise of economy, in respect either to materials or time ; 
and thus the inventive powers of man, which never 
grow weary, are roused to yet greater activity. Vast 
and almost incredible as have been the advances made 
in the employment of machinery, during the last half 
century, it is probable that the next fifty years will ex- 
hibit results, as much transcending these, as they tran- 
scend thoSe of any preceding generation. 

Nor can we forbear, in closing this subject, to advert 

to the manifold traces of mechanism, which we find in 

the works of God. Human inventions are in truth 

but humble imitations of the grander machinery, which 

9* 



102 MACHINERY EMPLOYED IN THE ARTS. 

displays itself in the movements of the planetary sys- 
tem ; in the appearances of inanimate Nature ; and, 
above all, in the structure and functions of animals and 
plants. Here, we find a skill and contrivance, w^hich 
are worthy of the Most High, and which leave, at an 
infinite distance, the puny efforts of human art. What 
mechanic has ever yet formed an instrument, with the 
flexibility, delicacy, and force, of the human hand ? 
What human artist ever yet gazed on a specimen of 
his own handiwork, like that which called forth the 
admiration of the Psalmist, — that frame, clothed with 
skin and flesh, and fenced about with bones and sin- 
ews, so wonderfully and fearfully made by the finger 
of Omnipotence ! Indeed, the most distinguished in- 
ventors have been content to borrow hints for their 
operations from the humblest of the Creator's devices. 
When Smeaton had reflected long, in search of that 
form which would be best fitted to resist the combined 
action of wind and waves, he found it in the trunk of 
the oak. When Watt was employed to conduct a 
supply of water across the Clyde to the city of Glas- 
gow, he borrowed his admirable contrivance of a flexi- 
ble water-main from considering the flexibility of the 
lobster's tail ; and so when Mr. Brunell was engaged in 
superintending the construction of the tunnel under 
the Thames, it was from observing the head of an ap- 
parently insignificant insect, that he derived his first 
conception of the ingenious shield, which he introduc- 
ed in advance of the workmen, to protect them from 
being crushed by the falling in of the earth. 

It becomes us, then, while we trace the operations 
of human ingenuity, in adapting means to its proposed 
ends, to raise our thoughts to that Divine Architect, 
who has imprinted traces of His wisdom and power on 
all His works : causing the heavens to declare His glory, 
and the earth, throughout all its domains of land, and 
sea, and air, to show forth His handiwork ! 



SUMMARY OF PRINCIPLES, IN PART II. 103 

SUMMARY OF PRINCIPLES, IN PART II. 

AGENTS EMPLOYED IN THE ARTS. 

I. Chemical Agents. 

i. They all depend on one principle called Affinity. 

1. Affinity is the tendency which particles of differ- 
ent kinds have to unite, when brought very near each 
other. 

2. (a) It causes, two fluids or gases, when shaken 
together, to intermingle, if they have affinity, forming 
a chemical compound. 

(b) It causes solids, when placed in liquids for which 
they have an affinity, to dissolve. These solutions have 
the following properties, a They sensibly retain the 
properties of the ingredients, b A liquid can generally 
dissolve only a certain quantity of a solid, c Having 
dissolved a portion of one solid, it can afterwards do 
the same for another and different solid, d It will 
precipitate any solid, which it may hold in solution, 
provided another, for which it has a stronger affinity, 
be presented, and will unite with the second. This 
is called elective affinity. When there is but one de- 
composition, and one new composition, it is called 
single elective affinity. When there are two, it is call- 
ed double elective affinity. 

ii. (a) Affinity also causes a more intimate union be- 
tween bodies, giving rise to more energetic action, and 
producing new properties. These compositions have 
the following properties : a The ingredients wholly 
disappear, and entirely new characters are developed. 
b The nature of these characters depends on the pro- 
portion in which the ingredients combine ; different 
proportions giving rise to entirely different substances, 
or compounds, c The number of proportions, in which 
the same ingredients combine, is definite and small, 



104 SUMMARY OF PRINCIPLES, IN PART II. 

being always capable of being represented by a num- 
ber, or by some multiple of that number. 

Ohsei^ation. The proper management of this prin- 
ciple constitutes much of the art of the tanner, bleacher, 
dyer, &c. &c. 

II. Mechanical Agents. 

1. Chemical agents act only at insensible distances, 
and change only the interior structure of bodies. 

2. Mechanical agents act, on the contrary, at sensi- 
ble distances, and change only the position or form of 
their masses. 

To understand the nature of these agents, we 
must familiarize our minds to the three funda- 
mental laws of motion. Namely, 

i. Masses of matter never change their state of 
rest or motion, unless some force be impressed 
upon them. 

ii. This change is always proportioned to the 
force, and in the direction of this force. 

iii. To every action of one body upon another, 
there is an equal and contrary reaction. 
The mechanical agents are, animate and inanimate 
forces. 

I. Animate forces consist of the strength of men and 
animals. 

(a) The time in which they can be exerted is neces- 
sarily limited. 

(b) The manner must be determined by the struc- 
ture and habits of the animal. 

(c) The relative value of different animals depends 
on the expense of keeping them, the amount of force 
they can exert, and the variety of ways in which they 
can be used ; from which we infer, that, of all animate 
forces, that of man is the least useful, and that of the 
horse the most so. 

II. The inanimate forces are, gravity, elasticity, 
and heat. 

i. Gravity. 

(a) Gravity acts on solids, as on bodies falling through 



SUMMARY OF PRINCIPLES, IN PART II. 105 

space, descending inclined planes, &c., and causes them 
to move with a uniformly accelerated velocity. 

(b) Gravity acts on water in the case (1) of water- 
wheels ; (2) of water floiving through orifices, tubes, 
canals, &c. ; (3) by hydrostatic pressure, in case of 
the hydrostatic belloics, and of Brahmah^s press ; of 
water rising to its owii level in bent tubes ; and of the 
method of specific gravity discovered by Archimedes. 

(c) Gravity acts on air, in the case of the common 
pump, bar^ometer, windmills, &c. 

ii. Elasticity acts on air, in the case of fire engines, 
airpumps, airguns, &c. 

iii. Heat acts as a mechanical agent. 

1. By expanding bodies, as in metals. 

This property of heat gives rise to instruments for 
measuring the degrees of it, as the thermometer and 
pyrometer. 

2. Heat acts as a mechanical agent, by changing the 
fo7'm of bodies, as in steam. 

The numerous other important uses of heat, in the 
arts, call for improvements in the prevaihng and very 
defective modes of generating and supplying it. 

Machinery employed in the arts. 

i. Its existence is to be attributed, 1. To man's want 
of natural implements ; 2. To the admirable provision 
made, for the invention and construction of machinery, 
in the ingenuity of man's mind and the conformation 
of his hand. 

ii. All machines, however complex, are composed of 
certain elements, called simple machines, namely, the 
lever, the wheel and axle, the inclined plane, the screw, 
the wedge, the pulley and rope. 

iii. The various and complex machinery, which has 
been formed by combining these elements, is useful : 

1. As enabling us to overcome great resistances, by 
diminishing their velocity, and operating upon them for 
a length of time. 

2. As enabling us to change the direction of the 
moving force. 



106 SUMMARY OF PRINCIPLES, IN PART II. 

3. As enabling us to vary the velocity of the resist- 
ance, especially by increasing it. 

4. As enabling us to regulate, or render uniform, the 
motion of the machinery. 

5. As enabling us to accumulate force, to be expend- 
ed instantaneously, or through a long series of separate 
actions. 

6. As enabling us to employ a vast amount of force, 
v^hich vi^ould otherwise be lost. 

7. As it enables us to render our work more exact, 
and the different specimens more identical. 



PART III. 

RATIONALE* OF THE ARTS. 



Having completed our sketch of the principal agents 
employed in the Arts^ as well as of the machinery by 
which they are applied to various uses, we proceed to 
consider the Arts themselves. It will be our object to 
state, perspicuously but briefly, the most important prin- 
ciples applicable to each art, and the influence which 
has been exerted by science, in facihtating and improv- 
ing its various operations. We shall also endeavor to 
keep steadily in view, the great ends, to which all im- 
provements should be directed, and to suggest some 
means, by which their progress might be hastened. 
The task is evidently too extensive for a work like the 
present ; and the Author will feel amply satisfied, if he 
can succeed in presenting any views, which are calcu- 
lated to awaken inquiry among the laboring classes, or 
to invest with interest, to the miscellaneous reader, a 
subject so obviously important, and yet so generally 
neglected. 

He proposes to consider, in the order here indicated, 
the following Arts : 

I. Agriculture. II. Architecture. III. Cloth Man- 
ufacture, including Dyeing, Bleaching, and Paper-mak- 
ing. IV. The Domestic Arts, including Brewing, Dis- 
tilling, and Wine-making. V. The Arts of Working 
Metals, VI. The Manufacture of Glass and Porce- 
lain. VII. The Arts of Copying. VIII. Locomo- 
tion. IX. Some reflections on the progress of the 
Arts, past, present, and to come. X. Influence of the 
Arts on National Welfare. 

* That is, an explanation of the principles. 



108 AGRICULTURE. 



CHAPTER I. 

AGRICULTURE. 

This has justly been termed the parent of all the 
arts. The art first practised by mankind ; the one 
from which they derive the means of subsistence ; and 
which is connected, therefore, most intimately with the 
comfort of all ; forming the occupation, too, of a large 
majority, in every civiUzed country,* and exerting upon 
their health, happiness, and moral habits, the most ben- 
eficial influence ; it must ever occupy the highest place 
in the estimation of the statesman and philanthropist. 
We assign it this place, however, not so much on ac- 
count of its importance, as because it serves to illus- 
trate, in a striking manner, the dependence of the arts 
on chemical and physical science. In as far as Agri- 
culture proposes to improve the natural productiveness 
of the soil, it must derive its principles chiefly from 
chemistry. In as far as it proposes to plough, sow, and 
perform the other processes of husbandry, with the least 
possible labor, it must be indebted to mechanics,^ 

It appears, then, that there are two branches of Agri- 
culture, which will successively call for our attention, — 
Chemical and Mechanical. 

I. Chemical Agricultwe, — One of the first objects 
of the husbandman is, to increase the natural produc- 
tiveness of the soil. Few soils possess, by nature, a 

* In England, it is otherwise. It has been computed, that not 
more than one third of the inhabitants of that country are employed 
in husbandry. In every other country, the proportion is much larger. 
In France, tiro thirds; in Italy, a little more than three fourths ; 
and in the United States, not much less than five sixths. 

t Our limits do not permit us to explain the application to Agricul- 
ture of other sciences. It must be obvious, however, that, in order 
to deal with plants, we ought to know something of their structure, 
properties, and use ; and this we learn from botany. In that branch 
of husbandry which relates to animals, we require some knowledge 
of animal physiology and medical science. 



CHEMICAL AGRICULTURE. 109 

sufficient supply of those substances which form the 
food of plants ; and where they do possess such a sup- 
ply, they would still, unless properly treated, soon be- 
come exhausted, by culture. Hence the importance of 
providing artificial means for improving or sustaining 
the productive qualities of the soil. These means con- 
sist in fallowings green crops, convertible or alternat- 
ing husbandry, burning, irrigation, and manure. 
To which of these the farmer shall resort, in any given 
instance, is an all-important question ; and one which 
he cannot easily settle, without the aid of chemistry. 
If land be unproductive, there must be some defect in 
the constitution or condition of the soil; and often- 
times this defect can only be discovered by chemical 
analysis. Does this analysis show that the soil contains 
some noxious principle, such as the salts of iron ? 
Chemistry teaches how this principle may be decom- 
posed, by means of lime. Is it asked, what kind of 
limestone should be employed, in any given case ? A 
simple chemical test will enable us to resolve the doubt. 
The value of chemistry will become more apparent, 
however, if we attend a little to the rationale of agri- 
culture. 

It has been found, by careful observation and experi- 
ment, that the principal food of plants is carbonic acid 
gas, atmospheric air, and the humates^ of potass and 
lime ; all which are mixed with water, and presented 
to the suckers, at the tip of the root-fibres, to be thence 
carried into the interior of the plant. The first two 
are also taken in through the leaves. The carbonic 
acid gas is necessary, in order to supply the carbon 
which forms the solid or woody fibre of the plant. The 
atmosphere is needed, partly in order to supply azote, 
which is a chief ingredient in the gluten of wheat, in 
starch, and various plants, and partly in order to supply 
oxygen. The humates of potass and lime are necessa- 

* A humate is a compound, formed by the union of potass ot lime 
with humic acid. Humic acid is more generally known in the books 
by the name of ulmic acid. 

10 S. A. 



110 AGRICULTURE. 

ry, because the humic acid (in addition, doubtless, to 
other important uses which are not well understood,) 
renders soluble the lime and potass, which must enter 
more or less into the composition of all plants, and are 
in some the principal constituents. 

These, then, being the food of plants, it becomes 
the object of the farmer to procure the most ample sup- 
ply of them. In the wise economy of Nature, large 
quantities of these substances are constantly generated. 
Carbonic acid is continually thrown out, by the res- 
piration of animals, and by the combustion and putre- 
faction of vegetable substances. The different parts 
of the atmosphere are mingled together by winds or 
changes of temperature, and are successively brought 
into contact with the surface of the earth, so as to exert 
their fertilizing influence ; while potass and lime, togeth- 
er with humen,^ form a large part of the substance of 
the earth. Ample magazines of the food for plants 
having been thus provided, a principal office of the 
husbandman consists in collecting and applying it to the 
soil under his care. 

It must be remembered, that none of these principles 
are taken into plants at the root, except when mixed 
with water. The first object, then, to be attended to, 
in agriculture, is, to have the soil supplied with water, 
and to have this water minutely diffused through its 
mass.f This is effected, in part, by dividing the soil, 
with the plough and harrow, so that tlie rain may enter, 
and be circulated, while superfluous water is allowed to 
escape by evaporation. Another mode of carrying off 
superfluous water, while it serves to supply the necessary 
moisture to the soil, is draining, which, in this country, 
is not sufficiently appreciated. Care must be taken, 

* A name, given to the substance yielded by the decomposition of 
vegetable or animal matter. It is a black or brown powder, called, 
by Davy, ** a peculiar extractive matter of fertilizing quality,'* and 
which the chemists of France have denominated ieneau. 

t It is not unlikely that water, besides being a purveyor of food for 
plants, is itself an aliment. Hydrogen forms a large part of many 
plants. 



CHEMICAL AGRICULTURE. Ill 

however, lest the water, in its circulation, move so rap- 
idly, that the roots cannot take up the nutritive princi- 
ples which it contains. On the other hand, it may move 
too slowly, so as to choke up the mouths of the small 
vessels, or it may, by deposition, lose its nutritive prop- 
erties. It is also necessary that the quality of the subsoil 
should be attended to ; as, in cases where this soil con- 
sists of stiff clay, or marl, or rock lying in a horizontal 
position, the water settles, and remains stagnant.^ 

After thus providing for the proper diffusion of water 
through the soil, the next duty of the husbandman is, 
to see it supplied with the necessary quantity of car- 
bonic acid gas, and of the humates before mentioned. 
The first of these substances is produced, not only by 
the respiration of animals, but also by the decomposition 
of vegetable and animal substances ; from which decom- 
position, the humic acid is also freely formed. Now, 
in order to procure this supply of vegetable matter 
for decomposition, we may, in the first place, allow 
land to liefalloio, by which, the crop of weeds will rot, 
and form a vegetable mould ; or, secondly, we may 
raise green crops, as they are called, consisting of buck- 
wheat, clover, pease, &c., which are to be ploughed in, 
while standing, and before they are ripe ; or, in the 
third place, we may apply vegetable and animal ma- 
nures, in which the process of decomposition has al- 
ready commenced. The last two of these methods are 
much preferable to the first, which is now little fol- 
lowed.! 

* There are three kinds of drains, — ope?i, under, and furrow, 
drains. The under have a great advantage over open drains, in 
point of durability, efficiency, and ultimate cheapness. They are 
not enough used, by American farmers. The furrow drain is of re- 
cent introduction, and is hardly known, except in Scotch and English 
husbandry. The field is laid into ridges, of twenty or thirty feet 
broad, in the direction of its slope, and under-drains are laid in every 
central furrow. 

t ** Fallowing, ^"^ says Chaptal, ** was necessary, as long as grains 
only, all of whicli exhaust the lands, were cultivated. But at this day, 
when we have succeeded in establishing the cultivation of a great 



112 AGRICULTURE. 

Another measure, introduced by modern agricultur- 
ists, and the object of which, more especially, is to pre- 
vent the exhaustion of the soil, is, the rotation of a^ops. 
It is founded on the three following facts : Fh^st, some 
plants, such as wheat, rye, &c., as they have no leaves, 
and can therefore derive little nutriment from the air, 
are found to draw much more from the earth than the 
green crops, and those of the root kind, which do not 
mature their seeds ; and therefore, if cultivated con- 
tinuously, will in a short time entirely exhaust the soil. 
Hence the grains are succeeded by clover, beets, tur- 
nips, potatoes, &c. Secondly, each species of plants 
has its own proper food, so that a soil, containing (as 
most soils do) food for different species, may yield 
largely of one, after the food for others is exhausted. 
Thirdly, plants with bulbous roots, like the potato, 
turnip, beet, &c., serve to divide and loosen the soil, 
and at the same time send down their roots and radi- 
cles to its lower stratum, whereas the roots of grain, 
&c., spread near the surface. 

Manures are, mineral, vegetable, or animal. 

1. Among the mineral manures,* are clay, sand, marl, 
and lime, in its various forms of quicklime, chalk, gyp- 
sum, &c. &c. Which of these is to be employed on a 
piece of land depends, of course, on the nature of the 
soil, and the plants to be reared. If the soil be defi- 
cient in the power of holding or circulating water, this 
deficiency is to be supplied by sand, if there is an ex- 
cess of clay ; or by clay, if there is too much sand ; or 
by marl, according as it has predominance of clay or 
lime. If, again, the soil is wanting in some of those 
principles which constitute the food of plants, it must 

variety of roots and artificial grasses, the system of fallowing can no 
longer be supported by the shadow of a good reason.'* 

* Strictly speaking, mineral manures are not so xnwch food for plants 
as agents for preparing their food, and also for giving form, strength, 
and firmness, to their structure. Another use is to prepare vegetables 
to become food for animals. The bones of animals, the shell of the 
egg, &c., are formed from the lime and phosphorus taken in with th« 
food and drink. 



ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE MANURES. 113 

be manured by substances best calculated to afford 
these principles. We have already remarked, that lime 
and potass enter into the composition of plants, as may 
be proved by reducing them to ashes, which will always 
be found to contain more or less of these substances. 
It is obvious, that they are introduced through the 
roots into the plants, and that, if we would supply 
them, it must be by mingling them with the soil. 
Hence, one of the important uses, in manuring, of ash- 
es, of gypsum, or the sulphate of lime, of quicklime, 
&c. In the preference of one of these manures to 
another, we must be determined by the nature, both of 
the soil and of the crop. If the soil be clay, it requires 
lime ; and if the crop be Indian corn, clover, the grass- 
es, &c., it should be gypsum, rather than quicklime. 

2. Animal manures (among which are included the 
dung of various animals, urine, bone-dust,"* horn-shav- 
ings, fish, woollen rags, &c.) are particularly valuable, 
first, because they decompose rapidly ; and secondly, 
because they afford large quantities of azote, a principle 
necessary in all plants, but especially so in wheat, cab- 
bage, broccoli, turnips, and radishes, of which azote is a 
principal constituent. 

3. Vegetable manures are useful, on account of the 
carbonic acid and humic acid which they yield, on fer- 
mentation ; and also, because, when applied before the 
straw is completely decomposed, they serve to loosen the 
soil, and render it lighter, while the process of fermenta- 
tion, being continued, has the advantage of warming the 
soil and thus assisting germination. Much discussion 
has taken place in connexion with this subject, — Sir H. 
Davy maintaining that manures ought never to ferment 

* The use of bone-dust has effected a vast and beneficial change in 
English husbandry. It is said to be adding annually sixteen millions 
of bushels of grain to the produce of her fields. Two bushels of bone- 
dust, properly applied, will, on some soils, do as much good as a 
load of barn-yard manure. Eight hundred thousand dollars' worth 
are annually imported into Great Britain. Bone-mills have recently 
been established near Boston, Providence, New York, Albany, &c., 
but the manure, as yet, is hardly known in the United States. 

10* 



114 AGRICULTURE. 

at all, before they are used, while others, and especially 
practical farmers, have contended, that rotten dung, or 
that which has undergone at least a partial fermenta- 
tion, is more valuable, inasmuch as it retains moisture 
longer, and has in it a large proportion of humic acid. 
The truth probably lies partly with both sides, entirely 
with neither.* 

In regard to manures, we conclude with the fol- 
lowing practical observations. " The most common 
manure consists in a mixture of animal, vegetable, and 
mineral, substances, such as farm-yard litter, night soil, 
mud from the streets, dust from the roads, or earth from 
the bottom of ponds and rivers, abounding with organic 
remains of fish, shells, and rotten plants. Before being 
laid upon land, it usually requires being well turned up, 
and exposed to the air for some time ; but as soon as 
it is spread, it should be ploughed in, to prevent loss by 
evaporation. As to the depth, below the surface of the 
ground, to which it should be deposited, it may be re- 
marked, that this should never be below the reach of 
the roots of the plants it is intended to nourish ; for, in 
proportion as it is dissolved and liquefied, it will natu- 
rally descend. And it is better to manure lands in the 
Spring than in the Autumn, lest the Winter rains 
should dissolve it too much, and endanger its sinking 
below the roots of the crop. With regard to the quan- 
tity of manure, it is a commodity so scarce, that it is 
not likely to be employed in excess. This occurs, 
however, sometimes in garden-culture, and it produces 
a strong and disagreeable flavor in the vegetables. But 
the stock of manure is generally so limited, that it has 
been the study of agriculturists to discover some means 
of compensating for deficiency, rather than to appre- 

* The truth is probably expressed by General Armstrong, in theae 
words: ''If we wish to obtain one great crop, the rotted dung is 
best ; but when we look to more permanent improvement, the long 
dung is to be preferred." Experiments show that the first crop, af- 
ter the manure is applied, is largest with short dung, but that in sub- 
sequent years it is not so great. 



CHEMICAL AGRICULTURE. 115 

hend danger from excess. This compensation has been 
found in a judicious rotation of crops."* 



CHAPTER II. 

CHEMICAL AGRICULTURE CONTINUED. 

Thus far, we have considered the food of plants. 
There are other important principles, which, if they do 
not serve as food^ are yet as useful, by way of stimu- 
lants, as salt is to us ; and which, as chemical agents 
for digesting the food of plants, are quite indispensable. 
These are, Light, Heat, and Electricity .f How indis- 
pensable the first two of these are, to vegetation, is well 
known, by every practical cultivator. From light, plants 
derive their green color, their taste, smell, and nutritive 
qualities, as is apparent from the pale and sickly appear- 
ance, and the deficient flavor and odor, of such as are 
reared in the dark. Heat, as every one knows, is necessa- 
ry, in order to have the seeds germinate, and to promote 
their rapid and healthy growth. It assists the fermenta- 
tion and putrefaction, by which the necessary supply of 
carbonic acid gas and humic acid is produced ; while, 
at the same time, it accelerates the flow of the sap 
through the vessels of the plant. Since, in Agriculture, 
the light and heat are derived from the sun, the propor- 
tion, in which the soil receives these principles, will 
depend upon its texture and upon the position of its 

* Among other advantages of what is termed root culture, that is, 
the raising of beets, turnips, potatoes, &c., is the addition which it 
makes to the manure of a farm, by enabling the farmer to support a 
larger number of cattle. ** It trebles,^'' says Buel, ** the amount of 
cattle food, and doubles the quantity of manure.^ ^ See * Farmer's 
Companion,' (forming the sixteenth volume of * The School. Li- 
brary,') chapter xvi., on Root Culture, page 163. 

t Grapevines in the south of Europe are often furnished with elec- 
tric conductors. Davy *' found that corn sprouted more rapidly in 
water positively electrified by the Voltaic battery, than in water neg- 
atively electrified," 



116 AGRICULTURE. 

surface. In our latitude, the rays of the sun fall so 
obliquely upon the earth, that a level surface will obvi- 
ously receive less light, than if it were inclined towards 
the sun. When, therefore, early vegetation is required, 
and the soil is strong enough to bear much heat, it will 
be useful to give it an inclination in this direction. In 
light soils, however, where there is a tendency to parch, 
for want of moisture, this position would give the sun 
too great power, and is therefore to be avoided. The 
texture of the soil is broken up by the plough and har- 
row, and thus fitted to receive heat from the sun, while 
it carries off superfluous moisture, by evaporation. But 
it should be remarked, that such evaporation abstracts 
heat rapidly from the earth, and thus occasions, in some 
cases, the frosts, from which crops are apt to suffer. 
Similar frosts are occasioned, also, by what is termed 
radiation ; that is, by the passing off of heat from the 
earth, at night, owing to which, it becomes very cold, 
and the vapor in the air is congealed. Hence the 
practice of covering plants, at night, and the use of 
snow, in protecting them. These serve to prevent the 
radiation, and thus keep the earth at a temperature 
friendly to vegetation, or at least not fatal to the life 
of the plant. 

This brief sketch of the method, by which the pro- 
ductiveness of the soil may be maintained and increas- 
ed, will be sufficient to prove the importance of knowl- 
edge, and especially of scientific knowledge. In many 
respects, the farmer may be regarded as a chemist, con- 
ducting experiments on an extensive scale. Plants are 
the substance with which he deals, and the natural 
properties of the soil, combined with manures, light, 
heat, &c., are the agents employed. If he would em- 
ploy these agents successfully, he must surely under- 
stand their nature, and the mutual influence which they 
exert on each other. He must understand, also, some- 
thing of the structure and functions of plants ; the office 
performed by the roots, leaves, bark, &c. &c., a knowl- 



CHEMICAL AGRICULTURE. 117 

edge which belongs to vegetable physiology. Many 
of the errors, which are committed in agriculture, would 
be avoided, if the farmer would consent to unite a larg- 
er portion of scientific information with his practical 
skill. In such case, he would not apply the same ma- 
nures indiscriminately to all soils. He would not suffer 
land to lie waste, which might easily be rendered pro- 
ductive. Nor would he be content with a meager crop, 
from soils, which, with very moderate expense and la- 
bor, might be increased in their fertility fourfold. 

We are far from supposing that any knowledge of 
science can supersede a practical acquaintance with the 
operations of a farm. We would merely contend, that, 
while the cultivator gathers knowledge from personal 
experience, he ought not to disregard the light which 
may be afforded by the experience of others, and by 
the researches of science. It is sufficient proof of the 
value of these researches, that their authors have been 
the men who have suggested the most important im- 
provements in modern agriculture. If British agri- 
culture is now the admiration of the world, it is be- 
cause such men as Davy and Sinclair, Anderson and 
Kaimes, Young and Coke, — men who have united phi- 
losophical sagacity with patient experiment, — have de* 
voted their high powers to its improvement. 

It is stated, that the celebrated Lavoisier, memorable, 
alike, for his scientific genius and his political misfor- 
tunes,^ cultivated two hundred and forty acres of land, 
in La Vendee, on chemical principles, in order to set a 
good example to the farmers ; and his mode of culture 
was attended with so much success, that he obtained a 

* During the terrors of Robespierre's reign in the French Revolution, 
Lavoisier remarked, that he foresaw he should be stripped of all his 
property, and accordingly would prepare to enter the profession of an 
apothecary. But his fate was already sealed ; and he was executed, 
in May, 1794, for the pretended crime of having adulterated snuiF 
with ingredients injurious to the health of the citizens ! On being 
arrested, he besought that at least time should be allowed him for 
completing some experiments in which he was engaged ; but the re- 
ply was, ** the Republic does not want savans or chemists, and the 
course of justice cannot be suspended." 



118 AGRICULTURE. 

third more of crop than was produced by the usual 
method ; and in nine years, his annual produce was 
doubled. It is not to be questioned, that, were this 
course to become general, similar effects would every 
where ensue. It is not easy to set limits to the produc- 
tiveness of the earth. Chinese culture shows that it may 
be carried far beyond any point which we are accus- 
tomed to fix, and it is probable that every farmer, if he 
would make the experiment, might realize the apologue 
of the Roman vine-dresser. 

Having two daughters, we are told, that when the 
oldest w^as married, he gave her a third of his vine- 
yard, for a portion ; notwithstanding which, he had the 
same quantity of fruit as before. When his youngest 
daughter was married, he gave her half of what re- 
mained ; and still, because he bestowed on the portion 
reserved as much labor as he had formerly bestowed 
on the whole, the produce of his vineyard was undimin- 
ished. If this result was attained, when cultivators 
were ignorant of many of the important principles now 
acted upon, what might we not expect from farmers, 
who, uniting science with experience, should confine 
their labors to small parcels of land ? We are aware, 
that the cheapness of land in this country, and the 
high price of labor, may render it expedient for the 
American cultivator to deviate, in this respect, somewhat 
from the practice of older countries. But we may still 
inquire, whether the practice of cultivating large farms 
imperfectly is not carried too far for the interest of the 
farmer ; and whether, if he must own much land, he 
would not derive more benefit from it, by confining his 
operations to such portions as he can afford to till more 
thoroughly and manure more abundantly. 

II. Mechanical Agriculture. — In performing the 
operations of husbandry, we employ implements, or ma- 
chines; and it is interesting to remark the assistance 
which they have rendered, both in saving labor and im- 
proving the culture. The recent and material improve- 
ments, which have been made in these machines, both 



MECHANICAL AGRICULTURE. 119 

as it respects variety and construction, ought to be 
an object of especial interest to the American farmer, 
since the high price which labor bears in this country 
tends very much to diminish his profits. It is not with- 
out some surprise, therefore, that we have learned, that 
such improvements are sometimes viewed by him with 
distrust, and that machines are often known and ex- 
tensively used in England, before they can secure an 
introduction into this country. 

Among the ancient Greeks, as we learn from Hesiod 
and Theophrastus, the ground was broken by a rude 
plough ; seed was sown by hand, and covered with a 
rake ; the grain was reaped with a sickle, threshed with 
a flail, then winnowed by wind ; and, when wanted by 
the family, pounded in mortars or quern-mills, into 
meal. NoWyWe have ploughs, moved with less power, 
and yet serving to turn up the earth much more effec- 
tually :^ the clods are broken, and the surface smoothed, 
by a harrow, which has been recently much improved 
in structure and efficiency. The seed is frequently 
planted and covered, by the use of machines, called 
drills, with more accuracy and economy than it could 
be done with the human hand : the grain is reaped, by 
an instrument called a cradle, much more rapidly than 
it could be with the sickle ; and the reaping machine, 
which has been used for several years, by the Scottish 
farmers, seems to promise, that the labor can be entire- 
ly performed by machinery. Having been reaped, the 
grain is threshed out by a machine, instead of the flails 
or the tread of cattle ; winnowed by fanning mills, 
which create artificial wind for the purpose : and ground 
up by water or wind mills, at an expense thirty times 
less than would be incurred by the use of the ancient 
handmills. 

• Our limits do not permit us to trace the progress of 
improvement, in this branch of machinery, nor to de- 
scribe the construction of the implements now in gener- 

* steam-ploughs y of various forms, have been invented. In some 
cases, the moving power is stationary ; in others, locomotive. 



190 AGRICULTURE. 

al use. But we may remark, that these inventions have 
generally been made by men, who, to a knowledge of 
practical agriculture, joined some acquaintance with 
scientific mechanics. Their influence upon the amount 
of grain produced by cultivation is obvious. If one 
man can now produce, by the aid of machinery, five 
times as much as was raised in ancient Greece, it fol- 
lows, that the quantity of food, yielded by a given 
amount of labor in a country, and consequently the 
quantity of artificial comforts, of every description, 
which are enjoyed, will be increased in the same pro- 
portion. In assuming the increased production, occa- 
sioned by machines, to be fivefold, we believe that we 
have not exaggerated. We have been informed, by 
very intelligent cultivators, that the improvements made 
within the last twenty years, in the implements of hus- 
bandry, have effected a saving of more than half the 
labor necessary on a farm ; or, which is nearly the 
same thing, have enabled the farmer, with the same 
manual labor, to double the productions of his estate. 
We are not to wonder, therefore, at the striking im- 
provement which has taken place, within a few centu- 
ries, in the condition of the cultivators of the soil ; and 
not in their condition only, but in that of all classes of 
society. Two or three hundred years ago, the hus- 
bandmen of Europe were not only slaves, bound to la- 
bor, for life, on the soil where they first saw the light, 
and to devote much of the proceeds of their labor to a 
master ; but these proceeds, owing to ignorance of the 
proper principles of husbandry, to the want of machines, 
and to the consequent imperfection in culture, were 
wholly inadequate to supply the necessities of the peo- 
ple. Hence the fearful famines, which often visited 
those countries ; famines, in which men, women, and 
children, perished, by thousands, and the survivors were 
compelled to subsist for months, on the bark of trees, 
acorns, and pignuts. Hence the miserable condition, 
at this moment, of the peasantry in Spain and Portu- 
gal, who have very poor implements, and hardly any 



ARCHITECTURE. 121 

knowledge of agriculture. If, instead of being sub- 
jected to such visitations, England is now able to sub- 
sist all her population, a population tenfold greater than 
she had at that period, and if this subsistence is in ev- 
ery respect more abundant and refined than was then 
thought necessary, it is to be attributed, almost entirely, 
to the introduction of better machines and improved 
systems of culture.^^ The number of cultivators has 
not increased, in a proportion by any means as rapid 
as the population ] and yet that country presents, at 
this moment, the unexampled spectacle, of a land, in 
which less than one third of the whole population is 
employed in agriculture, and still the soil is producing 
stores of vegetable and animal food, which, if properly 
preserved! ^^^ distributed, would afford an ample and 
even luxurious subsistence for every family. 



CHAPTER III. 



ARCHITECTURE. 



Next to Agriculture, one of the earliest and most 
important employments of mankind was the building 
of edifices, for habitation, worship, and defence. In no 
art do we see more striking evidence of the various 
and ever-progressive powers of the human mind. The 
insect and the quadruped erect their habitations under 
the guidance of a bhnd but unerring instinct, and hence 
they are at all periods alike, and receive no improve- 

* See Appendix V., on Progress of Agriculture in England and 
in the United States. 

t An immense amount of grain is wasted annually, in England, as 
in the United States, in distilleries and breweries, in subsisting su- 
perfluous dogs, horses, &c. The quantity of malt, made into beer 
in the United Kingdom, in the year ending October, 1833, was 
40,164,792 bushels. In the year 1838, it was 40,505,566 bushels. 
In England alone, 55,045f acres of land are under cultivation for 
hops to be used in making beer. 

11 S. A. 



122 ARCHITECTURE. 

ment with the lapse of time. But man rears his edi- 
fices, by means of an intelHgence which is extremely 
fallible, but, at the same time, ever improving. Hence 
his earliest efforts are rude and imperfect. The ma- 
terials are inconvenient and perishable, the forms un- 
graceful, and the structure unstable. But, gathering 
wisdom from his experience, he constantly improves, 
till at length he erects buildings unending in their va- 
riety, beautiful in their form and finish, and fitted to 
withstand the violence of the elements and the waste 
of time. In our remarks in this Chapter, we shall speak 
only of Architecture as a useful art, and shall endeavor 
to illustrate its dependence on, 1. Geometry ; 2. Chem- 
istry ; 3. Mechanical Philosophy. 

It may add to the interest of the subject, if we intro- 
duce some instances from the architecture of Nature, 
tending to show, that, in her work, she has ever pro- 
ceeded on the same principles which are slowly discov- 
ered by men, and which, had they been more careful- 
ly observed, might have suggested improvements, at a 
much earlier period. In speaking of the structure of 
the human body, it has been declared, by the most em- 
inent anatomist now living,"^ '^ That the foundation of 
the Eddystone lighthouse, the perfection of human ar- 
chitecture and ingenuity, is not formed on principles so 
correct, as those which have directed the arrangement 
of the bones of the foot ; that the most perfect pillar or 
king-post is not adapted with the accuracy of the hol- 
low bones which support our weight ; that the insertion 
of a ship's mast into the hull is a clumsy contrivance, 
compared with tiie connexions of the human spine and 
pelvis ; and that the tendons are composed in a manner 
superior to the last patent cables of Huddart, or the yet 
more recently improved chain cables of Bloxam." 

1. We are first to illustrate the applications of geom- 
etry to architecture. When a builder or architect pro- 
poses to erect an edifice, one of his most important du- 
ties is, to calculate the expense, and make an estimate 

• Sir Charles Bell. 



APPLICATION OF GEOMETRY TO ARCHITECTURE. 123 

of the amount of materials and labor which will be 
required. Now, in order to do this, he must deduce, 
from the Unear dimensions of the proposed house, what 
number of cubic feet or yards must be excavated for 
the cellars ; how many cubic yards must be laid up in 
brick and stone ; and how much timber will be requi- 
site, for the frame, roofing, &c. But these calculations 
can hardly be made, without some knowledge of geom- 
etry ; and to make them in all the new and unexpected 
cases which may occur, in the present state of the arts, 
requires much more than a smattering of the science. 
Then, again, the architect, in order to prepare himself, 
has often to draw designs of the building ; to exhibit 
ground-plans and elevations ; to determine, by construc- 
tion or calculation, the inclination which must be given 
to the faces of stone in his masonwork, or to the ex- 
tremities of timbers which are to join at a certain angle, 
or to the edge of covering which he proposes to apply 
to various solids. In such cases, it is obvious, that his 
calculations must depend upon geometry, and cannot 
be made, in all cases, with proper accuracy, without 
some knowledge of its principles. 

At other times, he may be required to dispose a given 
quantity of material in such shape, as to afford the most 
space or accommodation ; and again, he may be requir- 
ed, having a certain space, (as a room,) to build it up 
with cells or closets, so as to leave no vacant space ; to 
expend the least possible material, and yet secure the 
most strength. Now, these questions can be answered, 
in the first instance, only by skilful geometers ; and the 
rules which they have discovered cannot be applied, 
with uniform accuracy, by tlie ignorant and mechani- 
cal workman. Mathematicians have ascertained, that 
in the former of these cases, the sphere is the figure 
which best answers the condition ; and that the nearer 
the solid approaches a s[)here, the greater the space 
whicli it will contain within a given surface, or with a 
given amount of materials. They have ascertained, 
further, that to fill a room with cells, as required above, 



124 ARCHITECTURE. 

these cells must be constructed with six sides, and that 
the roof and floor must be made of three square planes 
meeting in a point ; and they have shown yet further, 
by a demonstration belonging to the highest parts of 
algebra, that there is one particular angle, or inclina- 
tion, of those planes to each other, where they meet, 
which makes a greater saving of materials and of work, 
than any other inclination whatever could possibly do. 
Now, it is a most remarkable fact, that bees build, and 
ever have built, their cells exactly in this shape, and 
thereby save, in this operation, both materials and la- 
bor more effectually than was possible to man, until 
very lately. And thus it is, that truths, which are found 
out by philosophers, only after ages of improvement, in 
the most difficult branch of the most difficult science ; 
which not even a Newton reached ; (for the principle 
here referred to was discovered by one of his celebra- 
ted followers ;) these truths are ever present to the mind 
of that Being, who guides the instinct of the humblest 
insect, and suffers not a sparrow to fall unnoticed to the 
ground. 

2. The applications of chemical science to architec- 
ture are numerous and important. When the builder 
has finished his estimates and drawings, he proceeds, in 
the next place, to collect his materials. In doing this, 
he must remember, that the edifice, which he is about 
to erect, will be exposed to the action of many natural 
laws, which tend to destroy it. The air contains oxy- 
gen, which tends to destroy metals by corrosion ; to de- 
compose rocks, when they contain either iron or alka- 
line substances ; and to produce on vegetable substan- 
ces, gradually, the same destructive effects, as are pro- 
duced rapidly by combustion. Water, both that which 
circulates through the earth and that which falls from 
the clouds, operates as a powerful solvent, not only on 
timber exposed to it, but also on many other bodies ; 
and especially on stones, which contain calcareous or 
alkaline ingredients. Part of this effect it owes to car- 
bonic acid gas, which, being mixed both with water 



APPLICATION OF CHEMISTRY TO ARCHITECTURE. 125 

and the air, acts, especially in the vicinity of large 
towns, as a powerful principle of decay. In addition 
to these, we may add heat^ which, though not perhaps 
directly a cause of decay, becomes so, in consequence 
of the frequent changes which the temperature of the 
atmosphere undergoes ; and also electricity , which acts 
as a destroying agent, in consequence of the different 
electrical states in which bodies are to be found. 

Now, against these agencies, it is the business of the 
architect to guard. His works derive their principal 
value from permanence. They are erected, not for the 
accommodation of an individual or a generation ; but 
for the accommodation of successive individuals and 
generations, if possible, through all time. Our estima- 
tion of his art never rises so high, as when we look on 
some structure, which, from its adamantine base, has 
beheld successive generations, as they have risen and 
disappeared ; when we see that his workmanship has 
stood unmoved, by physical vicissitudes and moral revo- 
lutions, and that, ages after the mind which designed 
and the hand which reared it, together with all the busy 
actors of the same period, have passed away, it stands 
in humble imitation of the works of God, — unbroken, 
fresh, and still the same. 

But thus to guard, in the most effectual manner, 
against the ravages of time, especially against those of 
a chemical nature, calls for some knowledge of chemi- 
cal science. This science teaches the builder how to 
select his materials, and where to dispose of them, so 
that they shall be most secure from the influence of 
decay. It teaches him what rocks contain principles 
of dissolution ; what metals are most liable to rust or 
corrode, and in what situations they would be most se- 
cure from this change ; of what ingredients his brick or 
tile should be composed, and at what temperature they 
should be burnt, in order to render them most durable 
and useful ; what causes tend to destroy vegetable sub- 
stances, how far these causes can be guarded against 
by seasoning^ charring^ covering with paint or resin- 
11* 



126 ARCHITECTURE. 

ous substances ^impregnating with salt or oil, provid- 
ing a circulation of dry air, &c. &c. 

A vast expense is every year created, by the prema- 
ture decay of wood employed in ships and other struc- 
tures which are exposed to the vicissitudes of weather, 
and especially if they are subjected to the influence 
of warmth combined with moisture. Though trees of 
different species vary greatly, in the durability of their 
wood, yet none of the species commonly employed are 
capable of withstanding, for many years, the effect of 
unfavorable exposures. In addition to superficial de- 
cay, they are subject to a disease called dry-rot, which 
commences in the interior substance of the wood, and, 
instead of being retarded by paint or the other means 
of preservation usually employed, is rather accelerated ; 
since these substances have the effect of closing up the 
pores of the wood, and preventing the escape of the 
unhealthy exhalations. How to guard against this dis- 
ease has become a most important question, and one 
which will be answered only by persons well acquaint- 
ed with the chemical construction, both of vegetable 
substances and of the agencies which cause them to 
decay. 

Another occasion, which calls for chemical knowl- 
edge, is the composition and application of the various 
cements. It is well known, that these important sub- 
stances must be compounded differently, according as 
they are the uniting medium between bricks and stones, 
or between vegetable or animal substances ; and also as 
they are immersed in water or exposed to the action of 
the air. Respecting their composition, in these differ- 
ent cases, much must unquestionably be learned from 
experience. It is obvious, however, that their action is 
to be referred to chemical laws, and that the man who 
understands these laws must, other things being equal, 
have superior skill in selecting the ingredients, in blend- 
ing them together, and in providing against any new 
emergencies which may occur. 



MECHANICAL PHILOSOPHY. 127 

3. We come now to consider the dependence of 
Architecture on mechanical philosophy. 

The design of an edifice may be perfect ; the esti- 
mates and plans may be drawn with the utmost accu- 
racy ; and the materials collected may be of the most 
durable kind : and still, unless the masonry and the 
carpentry are executed according to nice mechanical 
principles, the edifice may of itself tumble into ruins. 
Gravitation is a great law of Nature, which may con- 
tribute, according as a building is constructed, to its 
stability and permanence or to its dilapidation. To 
render it firm, the centre of gravity of the mass must 
be directly over the base ; and hence the necessity of 
upright pillars and columns, and of a hmited height. 
The weight of the superstructure must be supported by 
a suflicient foundation, and points in the building, at 
which there is a great stress or strain, must be propor- 
tionally strengthened. Timbers, wliich are to support 
weight, such as the girders of a floor, &c., must be so 
constructed, that they shall present the necessary sup- 
port with the least possible material. Arches are to be 
secured at the points where the pressure accumulates, 
and composed of materials not likely to crush or yield 
under great weight. 

It is obvious, therefore, that the architect should be 
able to foresee what pressure will fall upon his founda- 
tion ; to what degree of strain or stress the different parts 
of the superstructure will be subject ; at what points this 
strain will accumulate, and by what materials, and by 
what shape, and what disposition of them, it can be re- 
sisted. We can hardly hear these questions, without 
perceiving that they involve very numerous and difficult 
principles, to ascertain which has exercised the inge- 
nuity and science of the profoundest mathematicians, 
as well as of the most accurate experimentalists. Our 
limits do not allow us to multiply illustrations ; but we 
should do injustice to the subject, if we did not briefly 
refer to some of the discoveries which have been made 
respecting the arch, the proper form and adjustment 



128 ARCHITECTURE. 

of columns intended for support, and the limit which 
has been fixed, by the laws of Naturae, to the magni- 
tude of edifices, and to that of their several parts. 
This will afford us an opportunity of showing, from the 
architecture of the human body, that the finest efforts 
of human skill are but humble copies of that of the 
Creator. 



CHAPTER IV. 

ARCHITECTURE CONTINUED. 

(a,) The arch w^as unknown in the architecture of 
the Egyptians'^ and Persians, and probably in that of 
the Greeks. We first meet with it in the structures of 
the Romans, by whom it was employed in bridges and 
triumphal edifices, though not with much skill, yet on 
a magnificent scale. We shall understand the princi- 
ple of the arch, if we conceive a number of pieces of 
stone or brick, shaped like obtruncated wedges, (that 
is, not sharp,) joined together by their faces, and all 
pointing downwards. They must evidently form a 
curved mass, which, if supported at the extremities, 
will not only stand, but will be rendered more firm by 
any weight pressing upon its top, since this weight is 
made to compress all the parts at once, and nearly in 
the same degree. The supports on which an arch 
rests are called piers, or abutments. The whole pres- 
sure evidently centres at these points, tending not so 
much to sink the abutments, as to spread them apart. 
Hence the care with which the abutment is secured, 
by anchoring it deep in the earth, or loading it with 

* It is maintained, by some, that the arch must have been known 
to the Egyptians at a very early period, since it is found among the 
ruins of Thebes, &c. It is doubtful whether, in the instances refer- 
red to, the structures are very ancient. The arch seems to have 
been an Etruscan invention, and to have been employed in the CJo^ 
aca Maxima at Rome, as early, many suppose, as the time of the 
Tarquins. 



ARCH. 129 

heavy weights. While it retains its place, any pres- 
sure, applied downwards, at the top of the arch, or 
even on its sides, if it be of the proper form, will only 
tend to bind the stones, which compose it, more close- 
ly together. The advantage which the arch has, for 
resisting pressure, may be seen in the common watch- 
glass face, which, if plane, would evidently be very Ha- 
ble to break ; also, in the superior strength of the round 
junk bottle, as compared with those which have flat 
sides and square bottoms ; and above all, in the impos- 
sibility of breaking an egg, by pressing it endwise be- 
tween our hands. 

Now, it is a striking fact, that those parts in the hu- 
man body, which are most liable to pressure, are con- 
structed on the principle of the arch. The foot, Fig. 36, 

Fig. 36. 




for example, which is required to give a firm and un- 
yielding support to the body, is composed of three 
arches ; one extending from the heel to the toe, and 
resisting pressure in that or the opposite direction ; 
Another across the foot, and another horizontally, or, 
as it were, around from the ball of the foot to the heel. 
These arches are composed of bones, wedged together 
like the courses of stone in masonry, which, though 
movable in some positions of the foot, become perfectly 
immovable, when the weight of the body bears directly 
over it, and when, of course, a firm foundation is most 
needed. 

So, again, the skull, Fig. 37, — which is peculiarly ex- 
posed to injury, from falls, blows, &c., and which, at 
the same time, covers the most important organ of the 
body,— /orm^ an arch, or, what is essentially the same, 



130 ARCHITECTURE. 

Fis. 37. 




A, the parietal bone. 

B, the/ron/a/ bone. 

C, the occipital bone. 

D, the temporal bone. 

E, the sphenoid bone. 

a dome. The two parietal bones, as they are called; 
which form the sides of the skull, Fig. 38, rest against 

Fig. S.S. 




each other, at the top of the head, and form an arch. 
This arch lies, at its extremities, on two bones, call- 
ed temporal bones, which answer as abutments : and 
it is most interesting to observe the provisions made to 
prevent the spreading of this arch, which would result 
from a load or pressure being laid upon the top of the 
head. In the first place, the lower or temporal bone 



COLCTiNS. 131 

laps over the parietal, so that the latter cannot be thrust 
out horizontally, without breaking it ; a contrivance sim- 
ilar to the pinnacles and buttresses in Gothic Eirchitec- 
tiue. In the second place, a bone, called the sphenoid 
bone, together TN^ith the temporal bone, passes across 
the head, from side to side, just as. in the roof of a 
house, the tie-beam is used, to prevent the rafters from 
spreading the walls ; or as, during the construction of an 
arch, the straining-piece is used, to prevent the sides of 
the arch from being crushed in. It is worthy of obser- 
vation, too. that those parts of the head, which would 
strike upon the ground when a man falls, namely, the 
centre of the forehead, the projecting point of the skull 
behind, and the lateral centres of the parietal and fron- 
tal bones, are strengthened, just as we strengthen those 
joints in an arch, which are exposed to the most pres- 
sure ; that is. by increasing their convexity and thick- 
ness, and also by ridges of bone on the inside, which 
correspond with braces used by carpenters at the an- 
gles in the centring of a bridge, or the frame of a roof. 
(6.) We proceed to notice one or two of the princi- 
ples which regulate the use of columns in architecture. 
Perhaps the most curious is that discovered, I believe, 
by Galileo, which teaches, that, if a given amount of 
material is to be made into a column of given length, it 
\nll be strongest when it takes the shape of a hollow 
cyhnder. The advantage which this form has, in re- 
sisting pressure, is twofold : first, a small quantity of 
matter, when employed as a column, for support, is not 
so likely to bend, if arranged in a hollow cylinder, as 
if it were condensed into a solid one, of much smaller 
diameter. Secondly: it is, under the same circum- 
stances, less likely to break. To illustrate this : when 
a column, or other piece of timber, bends, and breaks, 
it is evident, that a twofold effect is produced. On the 
one side, the particles are crushed into one another; 
and, on the other, they are torn asunder, like the snap- 
ping of a rope : so that, betwixt the portions acting in 
a manner so different, there is an intermediate neutral 



132 



ARCHITECTUUK. 



part, which might be taken away without materially 
weakening the column. Accordingly, it has been 
found, by experiment, that hollow shafts, in machinery, 
are nearly as strong, as tliough they were made solid, 
and of the same diameter ; and much stronger, than if 
the same amount of material liad been put into a solid 
form, with a nmeh smaller diameter ; and hence, also, 
the hollow colunms, masts, <fcc., which are now used 
in buildings and in ships. 

In forming the bones of the human body, the Creator 
has [)roceeded upon the same principle. Finding it 
necessary to combine strength with lightness, he has 
made these bones, for the most part, in the form of 
hollow cylinders filled up with the thin substance called 
marrow. Fig. 39. Wherever increased strength is 

Fig. 39. Fig. 40. 

A 





A , tli(.' H|jiiu.', ur ridge, 
running along tlie bone, 

n c. 



necessary, he has attained it, by furnishing ligaments 
to one side of the bone to make it more tougli, and a 
hard ridge, or spine, to the other sidci, to makc^ it more ca- 
pable of resisting compression. Fig. 40. Indeed, there 



LIMIT OF MAGNITUDE. 133 

are a thousand objects, such as quills, reeds, the grasses, 
&c., which show that strength is uniformly given, by- 
Nature, with the least possible expense of materials. It 
was this fact to which Galileo appealed, when he was 
arraigned before the Inquisition on the charge of athe- 
ism. Being asked, if he believed in a God, he picked 
up a straw, which had stuck to his garments. If, said 
he, there was nothing else in Nature, to teach me the 
existence of a Deity, even this straw would be sufficient. 
Such a straw, if made solid, and yet of the same quan- 
tity of material, would be so thin, that it would bend 
and break under the slightest weight ; whereas, in its 
present form, it is able to support an ear, which is heav- 
ier than the whole stalk. 

(c.) Another important principle, first noticed by 
Galileo, respects the limit which must be set to the 
magnitude of works in art. It may be illustrated in 
this manner. A soft stone, projecting from a wall, may 
make a stile strong enough to support a person's weight ; 
but if it were necessary to double its length, the thick- 
ness must be more than double, or a freestone substi- 
tuted : and if it were necessary to make this freestone 
project twice as far from the wall, even if doubled in 
thickness, it would not be strong enough to bear a pro- 
portioned increase of weight. Granite must be placed 
in its stead, and even the granite would not be capable 
of sustaining four times the weight which the soft stone 
bore in the first instance.* In the same way, the stones 
which form an arch of a large span must be made of 
the hardest granite ; else their own weight would crush 
them. The same principle is applicable to the bones 
of animals. The material of bone is too soft, to admit 
an indefinite increase of weight. And generally, we 
may conclude that greater beams and bars, in carpentry, 
must be in greater danger of breaking, than smaller 
ones ; and that what appears very firm, in a model, may 
be very weak, or even fall to pieces by its oivn weight, 

* See Sir C. Bell, on Animal Mechanics. 

12 S. A. 



134 ARCHITECTURE. 

when it comes to be executed in larger dimensions, ac- 
cording to that model. Hence it follows, that ships, 
temples, &c., of vast magnitude, cannot be erected, 
since the parts of their frame would necessarily fall 
asunder by their own weight. In like manner, if trees 
were of enormous magnitude, their branches would fall 
off,* and animals, of magnitude much greater than any 
we now know, would be unable to sustain their own 
weight. As to marine animals, the case is different, 
since they are sustained, chiefly, by the specific gravity 
of the water, and are, in fact, known to be sometimes 
vastly larger than the greatest land animals. 

In speaking of the application of mechanical science 
to architecture, we should not omit the machines which 
are used in preparing materials and depositing them in 
their proper positions. In the infancy of society, this 
is accomplished by the rudest instruments, and almost 
entirely by the exertion of human strength. For ex- 
ample : the people of Mexico and Peru, when first vis- 
ited by the Spaniards, had neither carts, sledges, nor 
beasts of burden ; but transported all their materials 
by mere manual labor. They knew nothing of scaf- 
folds, cranes, or other machines, now used in erecting 
buildings ; and were even ignorant of the use of iron. 
And yet, with no means of breaking their stones, but 
with flints, nor of polishing them, but by rubbing them 
against each other, they raised structures, which are 
beheld with admiration at the present day, and which 
nearly rival the greatest edifices of ancient India or 
Egypt. It is probable, that these last were erected in 
nearly the same manner. An ancient historian states, 
that the mere labor of raising from the ground the 
stones which compose the great pyramid in Egypt, 

* The architecture of trees exhibits an application of mechanical 
principles hardly less wonderful than that exhibited by the human 
body. The gradual enlargement of the trunk, as the tree gains ele- 
vation, its greater diameter at the base or tapering form, the tapering 
of the branches, the roundness of the stem, &c., all show that it 
takes precisely that form which best fits it for resisting the natural 
forces at war with it. 



MACHINES TO MOVE MATERIALS. 135 

and fastening them in their proper places, occupied 
one hundred thousand men for twenty years, (and this 
number was exclusive of those who were employed in 
hewing and transporting.) It has been calculated, 
that the same labor might be performed by thirty-six 
thousand men, using the steam-engines of England, 
in a single day. It would seem to be evident, from 
this fact, (if it can be relied on,) that the building arts 
in Egypt must have been in their infancy, and that 
every thing was accomplished by main strength. In- 
deed, we are assured by the same historian, that these 
pyramids were formed of different bodies or stages, 
rising one above another, like stairs ; and that stones 
were raised from one to another step by means of the 
simplest lever. He adds, that over these they laid a 
covering of masonry, making a plane surface, by be- 
ginning at the summit and working downwards. A 
similar method seems to have been pursued, in build- 
ing the great temple at Mexico, and the vast pyramids, 
remains of which are to be found in various parts of 
South America. 

In this age, masses of stone, which could not be sep- 
arated from the quarries, without the strength of one 
hundred men, are broken off, by a few pounds of pow- 
der. They are split into the requisite size and form, 
with the utmost regularity, by employing the expansive 
power of heat and of moisture : they are brought from 
their bed in the quarry or valley, with sixtyfold less 
labor, than if no contrivance were used for diminishing 
friction : they are transported from place to place, on 
rivers, canals, and rail-roads, with a still greater gain 
of power ; and then they can be raised to their places, 
by the power of steam or animals, — we had almost said, 
without the intervention of man. In truth, his labor 
is almost reduced to the mere mental effort of super- 
intending and directing the operation of mechanical 
powers. 

Much of this improvement in the art of building 
has been the result of corresponding improvement in 



136 ARCHITECTURE. 

mechanical science. The effect which it has produc- 
ed on society, not only in saving labor, but in multi- 
plying comforts, is wonderful. When instruments are 
rude, and knowledge imperfect, few edifices can be 
reared ; and these few must be comparatively rough 
and uncomfortable. The rich and powerful, it is true, 
as they can command human labor, may build their 
palaces of splendor and luxury. But they are built 
by a people, subsisting, like the ancient laborers in 
Egypt, on the poorest fare, and having only huts to 
cover them. It is stated, that, in the island of New 
Zealand, which contains as many inhabitants as the 
island of Great Britain, there are but ten thousand 
houses, while the latter island contains two hundred 
and fifty times that number: and also that the finest 
house of the barbarians is vastly less commodious, 
than the poorest dwelling in England. The reason is 
obvious. The people of New Zealand have neither 
machinery nor skill. Houses, therefore, can only be 
erected with great labor and expense, and in a very 
rude way. Consider what a quantity of waste, both 
of time and materials, is saved, and what regularity 
of form is secured, by a carpenter's tools. With his 
foot-rule and chalk-line, he measures off exactly as 
much wood as he needs ; with his saw he cuts out, 
with the utmost precision, in a few minutes, a pattern, 
which with a knife he could not extract in a whole 
day ; nor then, without great waste. His hatchet, 
planes, centre-bits, &c. &c., are all so many machines, 
to reduce labor, save material, and insure accuracy: 
and thus it becomes possible for the humblest individ- 
ual to have the shelter of a comfortable dwelling, and 
to have it provided with decent and even ornamental 
furniture. 

Compare the dwellings, even in considerable towns 
in England, down to the reign of Elizabeth, with those 
found in the same towns, at the present day. The 
greater part of the houses had no chimneys ; the fire 
was kindled against the wall, and the smoke found its 



MANUFACTURE OF CLOTH, PAPER, ETC. 137 

way out, as well as it could, by the roof, the door, or 
the windows. The houses were mostly built of wat- 
tling, plastered over with clay ; the floors were of earth, 
strowed, in families of distinction, with rushes. The 
beds were only straw pallets, with a log of wood for a 
pillow. In this respect, even the king was no better off* 
than his subjects ; for, in the time of Henry the Eighth, 
we find directions, "^ to examine, every night, the straw 
of the king^s bed, that no daggers might be concealed 
therein." In the discourse prefixed to Hollingshed's 
Chronicle, pubUshed in 1577, the writer, speaking of 
the progress of luxury, mentions three things, espe- 
cially, that were marvellously altered for the worse 
in England : — the multitude of chimneys lately erect- 
ed ; the great increase of lodgings ; and the exchange 
of treene-platters into pewter, and wooden spoons into 
silver and tin ; and he complains bitterly that nothing 
but oak, for building houses, was then regarded : '^ for 
when our houses," says he, "were built of willow, then 
we had oaken men ; but now that our houses are come 
to be made of oak, our men are not only become wil- 
low, but a great many altogether straw, which is a sore 
alteration." 



CHAPTER V. 

MANUFACTURE OF CLOTH, PAPER, ETC. 

This forms one the most interesting as well as im- 
portant branches of the arts. To convert the short 
and weak fibres of wool, cotton, &c., into strong and 
flexible textures, adapted to a great variety of purposes, 
pfiight seem to be the highest effort of human ingenuity. 
And yet it is an effort, which, under the pressure of 
necessity, is made at the earliest periods of civilization. 
Animals have been provided by their Creator with a 
covering suited to the zones in which they dwell. But 
man, the universal denizen, the inhabitant of every 
12* 



138 MANUFACTURE OF CLOTH, PAPER, ETC. 

zone, has been left to supply this ever-varying want, by 
the efforts of his own industry and skill. At first, he 
may be satisfied to clothe himself in the s-kins which 
he has taken from the animals destroyed in the chase. 
Choice, however, soon conspires with necessity, in 
prompting him to seek a more convenient, comely, and 
salubrious covering. Hence we find, in the earliest 
records of human history, notices of '' fine linen ;" and 
there is little doubt, that both cotton and wool were 
manufactured, the former in India and the latter in 
Greece, at very remote periods of their history. At 
such times, patient industry, joined with manual skill, 
succeeds, though destitute of science, in accomplish- 
ing, with considerable accuracy, complicated processes, 
which are now executed with yet greater perfection, 
and almost entirely by machinery. It will be our ob- 
ject, in treating of this subject, to explain the princi- 
ples on which the manufacture of cloth, paper, &c., de- 
pends, and to show its connexion (as conducted at pres- 
ent) with mechanics and chemistry. 

I. The constituent fibres of cloth, paper, &c., are 
held together, principally, by friction and adhesion 
among themselves. The efforts of the manufacturer 
are directed to interweaving or intermixing them so to- 
gether, that any force which is applied will tend, as in 
the arch, rather to bind them together than to separate 
them. This is accomplished, in different ways, accord- 
ing to the material which we use, and the purpose to 
which the fabric is to be applied. If we would manu- 
facture cloth, we commence by twisting the fibres to- 
gether into small threads, and then we unite these 
threads into a continuous texture, by weaving. If it 
be our object to make cordage, or ropes, the threads 
are united, not by weaving, but by twisting alone ; and 
finally, if we propose to make paper, or the felt for 
hats, the fibres, instead of being twisted, are united 
principally by pressure. 

Previous to being united, the fibres are in all cases 
subjected to a treatment, which is calculated to render 



, TWISTING. WEAVING. 139 

them more flexible, even, and uniform. Thus, flax is 
broken and hatcheled, in order to exclude the husk and 
coarse fibres, and to render the remainder even and 
phable : cotton is picked and carded : wool is either 
carded or combed, according as its fibres are shorter or 
longer, and then oiled, to enable these fibres to move 
freely upon each other, during the process of spinning 
and weaving : furs^ and other materials for felting, are 
intimately mixed together, by bowing :^ and the rags^ 
from which paper is generally made, are minutely sub- 
divided by cutters, and immersed in water, till they 
form a thin, uniform pulp. 

The most common mode of uniting flexible fibres is 
by tivisting ; and as this is never effected without some 
machine, we shall have occasion to describe it more 
particularly, when we come to speak of spinning by 
machiiiery. Weaving is a more complicated process. 
Threads are arranged longitudinally and parallel to 
each other, which are called the warp, and these are 
crossed at right angles by another thread, called the 
woof, weft, or filling, which, in common weaving, 
passes alternately over and under the threads of the 
warp. In tivilled goods, however, it crosses only at 
the third, fourth, fifth, or sixth, threads ; and, when great 
fineness is wanted, only, in some cases, at the sixteenth. 
In iveaving gauze, the threads of the warp, instead of 
remaining parallel, are crossed, and partially twisted to 
the right and left, alternately, at each stroke of the 
loom. In lace, the threads of the weft, instead of 
moving at right angles to the ivarp, are made to pass 
in cross directions, and obhquely round the warp 
threads, so as to produce the hexagonal meshes, which 
distinguish this kind of fabric. In velvet, plush, and 
corduroy, as also in Brussels and Turkey carpets, the 
threads are drawn up in loops, which are cut open, and 

* This depends on the vibration of an elastic spring, which, mov- 
ing rapidly backwards and forwards through the fur, is well calculat- 
ed to remove all irregularities, and dispose them in a light and uni- 
form arrangement. 



140 MANUFACTURE OF CLOTH, PAPER, ETC. 

thus form a soft uniform nap. In Kidderminster car- 
pets, Marseilles quilts, &c., there are two webs, each 
consisting of a separate warp and a separate woof, 
which intersect each other at intervals, so as to pro- 
duce a definite figure. It should also be added, that 
the warp and weft are not always of the same material ; 
linen, cotton, &c., being often used as a filling, for 
woollen ; and there are other cases, as in the Turkey 
carpet and in tapestry, where both are of linen, and are 
yet concealed by the wool, which is introduced to pro- 
duce the figures, and give to the fabric its fine and or- 
namented surface. 

When the web has been woven, it needs, in many 
cases, some additional process, in order to fit it for con- 
venient use. Thus, cotton, when taken from the loom, 
is covered with rough down, formed by the projecting 
ends of the fibres, which is generally removed by burn- 
ing, — the heat being applied and withdrawn so rapidly, 
as not to injure the texture of the cloth. Woollens re- 
quire to be scoured, in order to remove the oily matter 
previously applied ; and to restore roughness to the 
fibres ; and, if composed of short wool, the web is found 
so loose and open, that it must be submitted to another 
operation, called fulling. This is performed by a*full- 
ingmill, in which the cloth is immersed in water, and 
subjected to repeated compressions, by the action of 
large beaters formed of wood, which repeatedly change 
the position of the cloth, and cause the fibres to felt, 
and combine more closely together. By this process, 
the cloth is reduced in its dimensions, and the beauty 
and stability of the texture are greatly improved. The 
tendency to become thickened, by fulling, is peculiar to 
wool and hair, and does not exist in the fibres of cot- 
ton and flax. It depends on a certain roughness of 
these animal fibres, which permits motion in one di- 
rection, while it retards it in another. It thus pro- 
motes entanglement of the fibres, which serves to short- 
en and thicken the woven fabric. 

The nap, or downy surface of broadcloth, and also 



MANUFACTURE OF MUSLIN IN INDIA. 141 

of hats, is raised by a process, which, while it improves 
the beauty, tends somewhat to diminish the strength, 
of the texture. It is produced by carding the cloth 
with a species of hur, the fruit of the common teasel, 
which is cultivated for the purpose. This operation 
extracts a part of the fibres, and lays them in a paral- 
lel direction. The nap, composed of these fibres, is 
then cut off to an even surface, by the process of shear- 
ing. 

II. Machinery used in the manufacture of cloth ^ &c. 
— It is obvious, that, without the aid of machinery, the 
human hands could do very little at twisting and weav- 
ing flexible fibres. Hence the spinning-wheel and loom 
are among the earliest inventions of human ingenuity. 
Among the Greeks and Romans, spinning was the chief 
employment of the women. The rites of marriage di- 
rected their attention to it, and the distaff and fleece 
were not only the emblems, but the objects, of the most 
important domestic duties of a wife. The machinery 
employed in weaving, though rude in construction, was 
in principle similar to that still in use ; and the process 
of fulling and preparing the cloth seems to have re- 
sembled the modern practice, in every particular point, 
except that of shearing the nap, with which the ancients 
do not appear to have been acquainted. In early rec- 
ords, we do not read, however, of cloth being meas- 
ured, which appears to have arisen from a custom of 
weaving no more cloth in one piece than was suflicient 
to fornj a single dress. 

Muslins are to this day manufactured by the primitive 
boor, in India, probably without any material alteration 
of the form in use during the earliest ages of its inven- 
tion. It consists merely of two bamboo rollers, one for 
the warp the other for the weft, with a pair of gear ; the 
shuttle performing the office of the batoon. This simple 
apparatus the Indian weaver frequently erects under 
the shade of a tree. He digs a hole, large enough to 
contain his legs, and the lower part of his gear ; he then 
stretches his warp, by fastening the rollers at due dis- 



142 MANUFACTURE OF CLOTH^ PAPER, ETC. 

tances, on the turf, and suspends the balances of the 
gear from the spreading branches of the tree ; two 
loops beneath the gear, into which he inserts his great 
toes, serve instead of treadles ; and with his long shut- 
tle he draws the weft through the warp, and afterwards 
closes it up to the web .* 

Until the middle of the last century, all spinning was 
performed by hand, with the aid of the common spin- 
ning-wheel. Locks of cotton or wool, previously card- 
ed, were attached to a rapidly-revolving spindle, driv- 
en by a large wheel, and were stretched or drawn by 
the hand, at the same time that they were twisted by 
the spindle upon which they were afterwards wound. 
Flax, the fibres of which are longer and more parallel, 
was loosely wound upon a distaff, from which the fibres 
were selected, and drawn out by the thumb and finger, 
and at the same time were twisted by flyers, and wound 
upon a bobbin which revolved with a velocity somewhat 
greater than that of the flyers. 

The first effort made to substitute machinery, on a 
larger scale, in the manufacture of flexible stuffs, was 
in 1767, when Richard Hargreaves, a carpenter, in 
Lancashire, England, introduced the spinning-jenny, 
which gave the means of spinning twenty or thirty 
threads of cotton, with no more labor than had been 
previously required to spin a single thread. In its sim- 
plest form, it resembles a number of spindles, turned 
by a common wheel or cylinder. It was doubtless a 
great improvement upon the one-thread wheel ; but 
still had two important defects, first, because it required 
to be worked by hand ; and secondly, because the 

*Ulloa mentions, that the Indians of South America have no other 
method of making cloth, than by taking up thread after thread of the 
warp and passing the woof between them, by the hand ; and he adds, 
that they are thus frequently engaged, for two or three years, in the 
weaving of hammocks, coverlids, and other coarse cloths, which a 
European would, by means of his loom, produce in as many days, or 
probably hours. From inscriptions on their monuments, it would ap- 
pear, that the ancient Egyptians were not acquainted with the use of 
the shuttle. 



I 



SPINNTNG-FRAME. 143 

thread spun by it could only be used as weft, not being 
twisted hard enough to answer the purpose of warp. 

This deficiency was supplied, two years after, by 
Richard Arkwright,"^ a barber of Preston, who invented 
the water-spinning-frame, a machine, which may be 
moved entirely by water or steam, and which does the 
work of the human fingers, upon a vast number of 
threads, of any degree of fineness, in the same time 
that was previously required to produce a single thread ; 
and does this work, too, with much greater precision. 
This ingenious man and great benefactor of the human 
race,! informs us, that he derived the first hint of his 
machine from seeing a red-hot bar of iron elongated, 
by being made to pass between rollers. 

His spinning-frame consists of two pairs of rollers, 

* For a notice of Arkwright, see the second Volume of ' Pursuit 
of Knowledge under Difficulties,' being Volume xv. of ' The 
School. Library,' Larger Series. 

t Mr. Baines seems to have have shown, that the merit of being the 
original discoverer of this great invention is due to a Mr. John Wyatt, 
who took out, in the name of Mr. Lewis Paul, a foreigner, a patent, 
wherein the process of spinning by rollers is distinctly described, so 
early as 1738, or thirty-one years before Arkwright's patent. And it 
further appears, that, in 1741 or 1742, Wyatt erected a mill at Birming- 
ham, which was turned by two asses, and attended by ten girls. Some 
of the yarn, spun by this mill, is still in existence. Owing, however, 
to the imperfectness of the machinery, the want of skill, capital, or 
some other cause, this undertaking was speedily abandoned. The in- 
vention was soon after tried, on a larger scale, at Northampton, but 
with no better success. It appears, from the special reference made 
to them, in the case printed by Sir Richard Arkwright, in 1786, that he 
was fully aware of these attempts to spin by machinery ; but it is not 
known, whether he was aware of the principle on which they proceed- 
ed, or had seen the patent referred to. Undoubtedly, however, the 
presumption seems to be, that he had seen it ; and if so, he cannot be 
regarded as the inventor of the spinning frame. But, notwithstand- 
ing this deduction from his extraordinary merits, enough will still re- 
main, to justify the claims of Arkwright to the respect and gratitude 
of mankind. The machine he constructed, though in principle the 
same, differed m.aterially, in its form and make, from that of Wyatt. 
In the hands of the latter, the invention, how ingenious soever, was 
of no practical utility ; and all traces of it seem to have been lost. 
If Arkwright did not invent it a second time, he did what was equal- 
ly important ; he made it available in practice, and showed how it 
might be rendered the most prolific source of individual and public 
wealth. — McCulloch\s Statistics of the British Empire. 



144 MANUrACTURE OF CLOTH, PAPER, ETC. 

turned by means of machinery : the lower roller of each 
pair is farrowed or fluted, longitudinally, and the upper 
one is covered with leather, to make them take a hold 
of the cotton. If there were only one pair of rollers, it 
is clear that a carding of cotton passed between them 
would be drawn forward by the revolution of the rollers, 
but it would merely undergo a certain degree of com- 
pression from their action. No sooner, however, has 
the carding, or roving, as it is technically called, begun 
to pass through the first pair of rollers, than it is receiv- 
ed by the second pair, which are made to revolve with 
(as the case may be) three, four, or five, times the ve- 
locity of the first pair. By this admirable contrivance, 
the roving is drawn out into the desired degree of fine- 
ness, a twist being given to it, by the adaptation of 
the spindle and fly of the common flax-wheel to the 
machinery. 

This instrument has been since applied to the spin- 
ning of wool ; the spindles being mounted on a car- 
riage, which passes backwards and forwards, so as to 
stretch the material at the same time that it is twisted. 
The application of machinery to the spinning of flax 
and hemp is rendered very difficult, by the length and 
comparative rigidity of the fibres, which prevent us from 
preparing them by carding, as cotton and wool are pre- 
pared, or from drawing them by rollers. Many efforts 
have been made to spin flax by machinery ; but, thus 
far, with no great success, except in the production of 
coarse threads.^ The manufacture of fine threads, 
such as those used for cambric and lace, has continued, 
until very lately, to be performed by hand, upon the 
ancient spinning-wheel. In the manufacture of silk, 
machinery is now applied, on the most extensive scale, 
for winding, spinning, and weaving. 

* This remjirk needs qualification. Fine threads are now spun by 
machinery ; and, acrordiiiir to Dr. Ure, (Dictionary of the Arts,) the 
art has been brought to a perfection in Leeds, (England,) and Dun- 
dee, (Scotland,) little short of that for which the cotton trade has 
been so long distinguished. 



COTTON MANUFACTURE. 145 

It is impossible, in a work like the present, to describe, 
or even notice, the vast variety of machines, which are 
now employed in cloth manufacture. As the cotton 
machinery is peculiarly interesting, on account of the 
great use made of it in this country, we shall briefly 
describe the various processes pursued, in transforming 
the raw cotton, as it comes from the field, into cloth. 



CHAPTER VI. 

COTTON MANUFACTURE. 

The first process in the manufacture of cotton is 
called ginning, the object of which is, to cleanse the 
cotton from the seed. There are two machines, for 
this purpose, called the rolling-gin and the saw-gin. 
The essential parts of the first, are two small cylinders, 
revolving in contact or nearly so. The cotton is drawn 
between the rollers, while the size of the seeds prevents 
them from following. The saw-gin, invented by our 
countryman, Mr. Whitney, is used for the black-seed 
cotton, the seeds of which adhere too strongly to be 
separated by the other method. It is a receiver, having 
one side covered with strong parallel wires, about an 
eighth of an inch apart. Between these wires, pass a 
number of circular saws, revolving on a common axis. 
The cotton is entangled in the teeth of the saws, and 
drawn out through the grating; while the seeds are 
prevented, by their size, from passing. The cotton, 
thus extricated, is swept from the saws by a revolving 
cylindrical brush, and the seeds fall out, at the bottom 
of the receiver.*" To this ingenious contrivance, the 

* American cotton is generally known by the names of seaisland 
and upland. The former grows along the low, sandy shores of Caro- 
lina, Georgia, &c. It is long in the staple, has an even, silky texture^ 
a yellowish tinge, is easily separated from the seed, and is decidedly 
superior to every other description of cotton hitherto brought to mar- 
ket. Unfortunately, however, it can be raised only in certain situa- 
13 S. A. 



146 COTTON MANUFACTURE. 

cotton-growing States of our Union owe all the wealth 
derived from that culture. Previous to 1789, those 
States had not raised a pound for exportation ; and even 
subsequently, though the cultivation was encouraged, 
by a duty of three cents a pound on imported cotton, 
it languished, solely on account of the difficulty of sep- 
arating the seed from the fibre. Since Mr. Whitney's 
invention was introduced, the amount raised has in- 
creased so rapidly, that in 1834 it averaged more than 
one million of bales, or one hundred and eighty thous- 

tions ; so that its quantity is limited, and has not, in fact, been at all 
increased, since 1805. At present, ninety-seven or ninety-eight per 
cent, of the cotton produced in the United States consists of what is 
denominated upland, from its being grown on the comparatively high 
grounds at a distance from the coast. Though of varying qualities, 
it is all short stapled ; and its separation from the seed and pod, if 
attempted by the hand, is so very difficult, that the cotton is hardly 
worth the trouble and expense. This, however, was the only way 
in which it could be made available, for home use or exportation, in 
1791 ; and, had any one then ventured to predict, that ten millions of 
pounds of upland cotton would ever be exported, he would have been 
looked upon as a visionary dreamer. But the genius and talent of 
Mr. Eli Whitney did for the cotton planters of the United States what 
Arkwright did for the manufacturers of England. He invented a 
machine, by which the cotton wool is separated from the pod, and 
cleaned, with the greatest ease and expedition ; and, in this way, 
doubled the wealth and industry of his countrymen. — {Pitkin^s Sta- 
tistics of the United States, page 109, ed. 1835.) Mr. Whitney's in- 
vention came into operation in 1793 ; and in 1794, one million six hun- 
dred and one thousand seven hundred and sixty pounds, and in 1795, 
five millions two hundred and seventy-six thousand three hundred 
pounds of cotton were exported ! The effect of the machine w^as, like 
that of Arkwright 's, all but miraculous. The exports of cotton from 
America, duriug the year which ended 30th September, 1838, amount- 
ed to the enormous sum of five hundred and ninety-five millions nine 
hundred and fifty-two thousand two hundred and ninety-seven pounds ; 
worth, when shipped, sixty-one millions five hundred and fifty-six 
thousand eight hundred and eleven dollars. And it is not going too 
far to say, that, had not Whitney's or some equivalent machine, 
been invented, there is no reason to think that the exports, during the 
above year, would have exceeded thirty-four millions of pounds, if so 
much ; so that the existence of the other five hundred and sixty mil- 
lions of pounds, with the greatest part of that retained for home con- 
sumption, may be ascribed to Mr. Whitney's machine, as to its real 
source and origin ! 

The amount exported from October 1, 1839, to August, 1840, was 
about seven hundred and fourteen millions of pounds. 



PREPARATORY TO CARDING. 147 

and tons, annually. The amount raised in 1839 was 
more than two millions one hundred and sixteen thous- 
and nine hundred and sixty bales, or three hundred and 
eighty-one thousand tons ; one, among a thousand sim- 
ilar instances, of the effect of labor-saving machines in 
stimulating industry. 

2. The next process is to open, clean, and spread, the 
cotton, preparatory to carding. This is done, by first 
spreading out the contents of different bags, of different 
kinds of cotton, in separate horizontal layers, one over 
another. This heap, or bing, having been pressed down 
in the manner of a haystack, the cotton is then torn 
down by a rake from top to bottom, by which means, 
if the work be skilfully done, the contents of the differ- 
ent bags must be collected together, into masses of uni- 
form quality. 

The cotton, being in matted masses, or flocks, is then 
loosened, and partially cleaned from dirt, by means of 
the willow. This instrument, as its name would in- 
timate, was originally a willow basket, but is now a cy- 
lindrical box of wood, with revolving iron spikes. 

The revolutions, being very rapid, (six hundred in a 
minute,) serve both to winnow and loosen the cotton, 
the heavy impurities falling down, through the bottom. 

The cotton then passes to the scutching machine, in 
order to be more thoroughly opened and purified. This 
instrument is so contrived, that it beats, scutches, and 
blows. After passing slowly through feeding rollers, 
made of wood, the cotton is struck by a set of beaters, 
revolving sixteen hundred or more times in a minute. 
It is thus passed through two sets of rollers, and sub- 
jected to two sets of beaters. 

The cotton is then taken to the spreading machine, 
the use of which is to spread a given weight of cleaned 
cotton into a given length and breadth, in order to its be- 
ing presented of uniform thickness to the next machine. 

3. Up to this stage, the fibres of the cotton cross 
each other in every direction. The use of the next 
operation is to disentangle them, to draw them out, and 



148 COTTON MANUFACTURE. 

lay them parallel to each other. This is called carding. 
The cotton is carried over the surface of a revolving 
cyhnder, which is covered with card-teeth^ of wire, and 
which passes in contact with an arch or part of a concave 
cylinder, similarly covered with teeth. From this cyl- 
inder, called the breaker, the cotton is taken off, by an- 
other, called the doffing cylinder, which revolves in an 
opposite direction ; and from this, it is again removed, 
by the rapid vibrating motion of a transverse comb, 
otherwise called the doffing-plate, moved by cranks. It 
then passes through a second carding, in the finishing 
cylinder, from which it is carried through a kind of 
funnel, by which it is contracted into a narrow band or 
sliver, and received into tin cases in the state of a uni- 
form continued carding. 

4. The next step in the process is called drawing 
and plying ; the object of which is, to arrange all the 
fibres of the cotton longitudinally, in a uniform and 
parallel direction, to do away all the inequalities of 
thickness. It is effected by the use of a double pair of 
rollers, similar to those already described in Arkwright's 
spinning-frame ; the greater velocity of the second pair 
of rollers serving to draw out the roll of cotton into a 
smaller size, and these smaller rolls being then united, 
are plyed, by passing through the rollers a second and 
third time. 

5. Roving the cotton, which is the next part of the 
process, gives it a slight twist, which converts it into a 
soft and loose thread, called the roving. The machine 
for performing this operation is called the roving-frame, 
or double-speeder. In order to wind the roving upon 
the bobbins of the spindles, in even, cylindrical layers, 
the spindle-rail is made to rise and fall slowly, by means 
of heart-wheels in the interior of the machine. And 
as the size of the bobbins is augmented by each layer, 
the velocity of the spindles and of the spindle-rail is 
made to diminish, gradually, from the beginning to the 
end of the operation. This is effected, very ingenious- 
ly, by transmitting the motion of both through two op- 



SPINNING. 149 

posite cones, one of which drives the other with a band, 
which is made to pass slowly from one end to the other 
of the cones, and thus continually alter their relative 
speed, and cause a uniform retardation of the velocity. 
Hence called, double-speeder. 

6. The roving having been wound on the bobbins, 
is transferred to the spinning-frame ; and, in the man- 
ner already described, is reduced to a thread of the re- 
quired fineness, the twist being given by flyers. Where 
thread of the finest kind is required, it is effected by 
also stretching the yarn, in the direction of its length, 
which serves to reduce those places in the yarn which 
have a greater diameter than the rest, so that the size 
and twist may become uniform throughout. This is 
effected, as in spinning wool, by mounting the spindles 
on a movable carriage, called a mule, which recedes, 
when the threads are to be stretched, and returns, when 
they are to be wound up."^ To show the astonishing 

* At first, the mule carried only one hundred and forty-four spin- 
dles ; but by successive improvements it was rendered capable, about 
a dozen years ago, of working three or four hundred spindles. Its 
maximum capability was far, however, from being yet attained ; and 
several mules are now at work in Manchester, and other places, car- 
rying the extraordinary number of from seven to eight hundred spin- 
dles, and a few as many as eleven hundred spindles. 

Various attempts have been made, at different periods, to work the 
mule solely by machinery, without the aid of manual labor. But 
none of the contrivances for that purpose were altogether successful, 
till the self-acting mule of Messrs. Sharpe and Roberts, of Manches- 
ter, came recently into the field. The machinery is so constructed, 
as to roll the spindle carriage out and in, at the proper speed, without 
a hand touching it ; the only manual labor employed in these ma- 
chines being that of the children who join the broken threads. For- 
merly, the machine had to be rolled in by hand, and required the 
strength of a man. The machine seems to have come very near 
perfection, producing a considerably greater quantity of yarn, of a 
more uniform twist, and less liable to break, than mules wrought by 
the hand ; at the same time that it has the important advantage of 
rendering the mill owners independent of the combinations and strikes 
of the working spinners. Mr. Baines mentions, that the patentees in- 
formed him in March, 1834, that they had then made five hundred 
and twenty self-acting mules, containing upwards of two hundred 
and eighty thousand spindles, and that that number was likely to be 
more than doubled, in the course of the year. — Mc Culloch^s Statis- 
tics of the British Empire. 

13* 



150 COTTON MANUFACTURE. 

minuteness to which the cotton thread may be reduced, 
we may state, that one pound has been spun into a 
thread one hundred and sixty-seven miles long. 

7. The spinning process being completed, that of 
weaving begins. The first step, preparatory to weav- 
ing, is, to form a warp, the threads of which were for- 
merly attached to as many pins, and drawn out to the 
required length ; but as this method required too much 
room, a warping machine was subsequently used, in 
which the mass of threads, intended to constitute a 
warp, was wound, in a spiral course, upon a large re- 
volving frame which rose and fell, so as to produce the 
spiral distribution. 

These methods, however, are now superseded, in 
this country, by a warping machine, invented by the 
late Paul Moody, of Lowell, Massachusetts, long dis- 
tinguished as a machinist, and the author of several 
great improvements in the spinning, roving, and dress- 
ing, frames. The most interesting part of this machine 
is a contrivance, which he introduced, for stopping the 
machine, if a single thread of the warp breaks. To ef- 
fect this object, a small steel weight, or flattened wire, 
is suspended by a hook, from each thread, so that it 
falls, if the thread is broken. Beneath the row of 
weights, a cylinder revolves, furnished with several 
projecting ledges, extending its whole length, parallel 
to the axis. When one of the weights falls, by the 
breaking of its thread, it intercepts one of the ledges, 
and causes the cylinder to exert its force upon an el- 
bow, or toggle-joint, which disengages a clutch, and 
stops the machine. After the thread is tied, and the 
weight raised, the machine proceeds. 

The process of weaving I have already described, 
as far as my limits allow. For the last twenty years, 
looms, driven by water or steam, have been substituted 
for the hand-loom. The motions being principally of 
a reciprocating kind, are produced either by cranks, or 
by cams or wipers acting upon the weights or springs. 

The course taken by the cotton, in its various trans- 



VARIOUS TRANSFORMATIONS OF COTTON. 151 

formations, is thus briefly described by Mr. Baines, in 
his History of the Cotton Manufacture. 

^' The cotton is brought to the mill in bags, just as 
it is received from America, Egypt, or India, and is 
then stowed in warehouses, being arranged according 
to the countries from which it may have come. It is 
passed through the willow, the scutching-machine, and 
the spreading-machine, in order to be opened, cleaned, 
and evenly spread. By the carding-engine, the fibres 
are combed out, and laid parallel to each other, and the 
piece is compressed into a sliver. The sliver is repeat- 
edly drawn and doubled in the drawing-frame, more 
perfectly to straighten the fibres, to equalize the grist. 
The roving-frame, by rollers and spindles, produces a 
coarse and loose thread, which the mule, or throstle, 
spins into yarn. To make the warp, the twist is trans- 
ferred from cops to bobbins, by the winding-machine, 
and from the bobbins at the warping-mill to a cylin- 
drical beam. This beam, being taken to the dressing- 
machine, the warp is sized, dressed, and wound upon 
the weaving-beam. The latter is then placed in the 
power-loom, by which machine, the shuttle being sup- 
plied with cops of weft, the cloth is woven. 

^' Such, without entering into minutiae, are the pro- 
cesses, by which the vegetable wool is converted into 
a woven fabric, of great beauty and delicacy ; and it 
will be perceived, that the operations are numerous, 
and every one of them is performed by machinery, 
without the help of human hands, except merely in 
transferring the material from one machine to another. 
It is by iron fingers, teeth, and wheels, moving with 
cxhaustless energy and devouring speed, that the cot- 
ton is opened, cleaned, spread, carded, roved, spun, 
wound, warped, dressed, and woven. The various 
machines are proportioned to each other, in regard to 
their capability of work ; and they are so placed in the 
mill, as to allow the materials to be carried from stage 
to stage, with the least possible loss of time. All are 
moving at once; the operations chasing each other; 



152 CLOTH MANUFACTURE CONTINUED, ETC. 

and all derive their motion from the mighty engine, 
which, firmly seated in the lower part of the building, 
and constantly fed with water and fuel, toils through 
the day, with the strength of a hundred horses.^* Men, 
in the mean while, have merely to attend on this won- 
derful series^ of mechanism, to supply it with work, to 
oil its joints, to check its slight and infrequent irregu- 
larities ; each workman performing, or rather superin- 
tending, as much work, as could have been done by^^ 
two or three hundred men, sixty years since." 



p 



I 



CHAPTER VII. 

CLOTH MANUFACTURE CONTINUED. PAPER-MAKING. 

DYEING, ETC. 



Nothing places in a more striking light the vast im-j 
provement which has taken place in the mechanical^ 
arts, since the era of Arkwright, than the condition of ; 
paper-machine factories. i 

Till within the last thirty years, the linen and hemp- ' 
en rags, and other materials from which paper was •: 
made, were reduced to the pasty state of comminution, '[ 
requisite for this manufacture, by washing them with ! 
water, and setting the mixture to ferment, for many \ 
days, in close vessels, whereby they underwent, in re- i 
ality, a species of putrefaction. It is easy to see that 

* The moving power of a modern factory, besides its proper tasks 
of picking, carding, roving, spinning, weaving, &c., does a great deal ^ 
of miscellaneous drudgery. For example : it raises the coals from 3 
their bins in the yard, by a sloping series of buckets, like those of 
a dredging-machine for deepening rivers, and delivers them on an el- 
evated railway platform, into a wagon, through the drop-bottom of 
which they are duly distributed among a range of hoppers, attached 
to the furnace-feeding machines. It also carries the work-people 
upwards or downwards, to any floor of the factory to which their busi- 
ness may call them. Movable platforms are constructed, capable of 
holding half a dozen persons, and enclosed in upright tunnels through 
which they move. — lire. 



PAPER-MAKING. 153 

the organic structure of the fibres would be thus un- 
necessarily altered, nay, frequently destroyed. The 
next method employed was, to beat the rags into a 
pulp, by stamping rods, shod with iron, working in 
strong oak mortars, and moved by water-wheel ma- 
chinery. So rude and ineffective was the apparatus, 
that forty pairs of stamps were required to operate a 
night and a day, in preparing one hundred weight of 
rags. The pulp or paste was then diffused through 
water, and made into paper, by methods similar to 
those still practised in the small handmills. 

About the middle of the last century, the cylinder or 
engine mode, as it is called, of comminuting rags into 
paper pulp, was invented in Holland, which was soon 
afterwards adopted in France, and at a later period in 
England and America. 

The first step in the paper manufacture is, the sort- 
ing of the rags into four or five qualities. They are 
imported into this Country and England, chiefly from 
Germany, and the ports of the Mediterranean. At the 
mill, they are sorted again, more carefully, and cut into 
shreds by women. For this purpose, a table frame is 
covered at top with wire cloth, containing about nine 
meshes to the square inch. To this frame, a long steel 
blade is attached, in a slanting position, against whose 
sharp edge the rags are cut into squares or fillets, after 
having their dust thoroughly shaken out, through the 
wire cloth. Each piece of rag is thrown into a certain 
compartment of a box, according to its fineness ; seven 
or eight sorts being distinguished. An active woman 
can cut and sort nearly one hundred weight in a day. 

The sorted rags are next dusted, in a revolving cyl- 
inder, surrounded with wire cloth, about six feet long 
apd four feet in diameter, having spokes, about twenty 
inches long, attached at right angles to its axis. These 
prevent the rags from being carried round with the 
case, and beat them, during its rotation, so that, in half 
an hour, being pretty clean, they are taken out, by the 
side door of the cylinder, and transferred to the engine, 



154 CLOTH MANUFACTURE CONTINUED, ETC. 

to be first washed, and next reduced into a pulp. For 
fine paper, they should be previously boiled, for some 
time, in a caustic lie, to cleanse and separate their fila- 
ments. 

The rags are washed and reduced to pulp, by means 
of a machine, sometimes called a stuff-engine, which 
consists of a cylinder, furnished, on its circumference, 
with short knives or teeth, which, as it revolves, act 
against another set of knives, that are fixed to a block, — 
the rags being, at the same time, mixed with running 
water, and confined within a box that contains the re- 
volving cylinder. 

The operation of grinding the rags requires nice 
maneigement. When first put into the washing en- 
gine, they should be worked gently, so as not to be 
cut, but only powerfully scrubbed, in order to enable 
the water to carry off the impurities. This effect is ob- 
tained, by raising the cylinder upon its shaft, so that 
its teeth are separated considerably from those of the 
block. When the rags are comminuted too much in 
the washer, they would be apt to be carried off in part, 
with the stream, and be lost ; for, at this time, the water- 
cock is fully open. After washing in this way for twen- 
ty or thirty minutes, the bearings of the cylinder are 
lowered, so that its weight rests upon the cutters. Now 
the supply of water is reduced, and the rags begin to 
be torn, at first, with considerable agitation of the mass, 
and stress upon the machinery. In about three or four 
hours, the engine comes to work very smoothly, because 
it has, by this time, reduced the rags to the state of 
half-stuff. They are then discharged into a large 
basket, through which the water drains away. 

The bleaching is usually performed upon the Jialf- 
stuff. At the celebrated manufactory of Messrs. Mont- 
golfier, at Annonay, near Lyons, France, chlorine gas 
is employed for this purpose, with the best effect upon 
the paper, since no lime or muriate of lime can be thus 
left in it ; a circumstance which often happens to Eng- 
lish paper, bleached in the washing-engine by the in- 



PAPER-MAKING. 155 

troduction of chloride of lime among the rags, after 
they have been well washed for three or four hours by 
the rotation of the engine. The current of water is 
stopped, whenever the chloride of lime is put in. From 
one to two pounds of that chemical compound are suf- 
ficient to bleach one hundred weight of fine rags ; but 
more must be employed for the coarser, and darker col- 
ored. During the bleaching operation, the sliders are 
put down in the cover of the cylinder, to prevent the 
water getting away. The engine must be worked an 
hour longer with the chloride of lime, to promote its 
uniform operation upon the rags. The cylinder is usu- 
ally raised a little, during this period, as its only pur- 
pose is to agitate the mass, but not to triturate it. The 
water-cock is then opened, and the washing is contin- 
ued for about an hour, to wash the salt away ; a pre- 
caution which ought to be better attended to than it 
always is, by paper manufacturers. 

The half-stuffs thus bleached, is now transferred to 
the heating-engine^ and worked into a fine pulp. This 
operation takes from four to five hours ; a little water 
being admitted, from time to time, but no current being 
allowed to pass through, as in the washing engine. 
The softest and fairest water should be selected for 
this purpose : and it should be administered in nicely- 
regulated quantities, so as to produce a proper spissi- 
tude of stuff for making paper. 

For printing-paper s the sizing is given in the beat- 
ing-engine, towards the end of its operation. The size 
is formed of alum, in fine powder, ground up with oil ; 
of whidi mixture, about a pint and a half are thrown 
into the engine at intervals, during the last half hour's 
beating. Sometimes a little indigo-blue or smalt is 
also added, when a peculiar bloom color is desired. 
The pulp is now run off into the stuff-chest, where the 
different kinds are mixed ; whence it is taken out, as 
wanted. The chest is usually a rectangular vessel of 
stone, or wood lined with lead, capable of containing 
three hundred cubic feet, at least, or three engines full 



156 CLOTH MANUFACTURE CONTINUED, ETC. 

of stuff. Many paper-makers prefer round chests, as 
they admit of rotary agitators. 

When the paper is made in single sheets, by hand 
labor, as in the older establishments, a small quantity 
of the stuff is transferred to the working-vat, by means 
of a pipe, and there properly diluted with water. This 
vat is a vessel of stone or wood, about five feet square 
and four deep, with sides somewhat slanting. Along 
the top of the vat, a board is laid, with copper fillets 
fastened lengthwise upon it, to make the mould slide 
more easily along. This board is called the bridge. 
The maker stands on one side ; and has, at his left 
hand, a smaller board, one end of which is made fast 
to the bridge, while the other rests on the side of the 
vat. In the bridge opposite to this, a nearly upright 
piece of wood, called the ass, is fastened. In the vat, 
there is a copper, which communicates with a steam- 
pipe to keep it hot ; there is also an agitator, to main- 
tain the stuff of a uniform consistence. 

The moulds consist of frames of wood, neatly joined 
at the corners, with wooden bars running across, about 
an inch and a half apart. Across these, in the length 
of the moulds, the wires run, from fifteen to twenty per 
inch. A strong raised wire is laid along each of the 
cross-bars, to which the other wires are fastened ; this 
gives the laid paper its ribbed appearance. 

The water-mark is made by sewing a raised piece 
of wire, in the form of letters, or any figured device, 
upon the wires of the mould, which makes the paper 
thinner in these places. The frame-work of a wove 
mould is nearly the same : but, instead of sewing on 
separate wires, the frame is covered with fine wire 
cloth, containing from forty-eight to sixty-four meshes 
per inch square. Upon both moulds a deckel, or mov- 
able raised edge-frame, is used, which must fit very 
neatly ; otherwise, the edges of the paper will be rough. 

The workman, provided with a mould, dips up a por- 
tion of the pulp, and holds it in a horizontal direction, 
shaking it gently. This is a very delicate operation ; 



PAPER-MAKING. 157 

for, if the mould be not held perfectly level, one part 
of the sheet will be thicker than another. The water 
runs out through the interstices of the wires, and leaves 
a fibrous coating, in the form of a sheet, upon the bot- 
tom of the mould. The sheets, thus formed, are sub- 
jected to pressure, first between felts or woollen cloths, 
and afterwards alone. If intended for writing-paper, 
they are then sized, by dipping them in a thin solution 
of gelatin, or glue, obtained from the shreds and par- 
ings of animal skins. The use of the size is to increase 
the strength of the paper, and, by filling its interstices, 
to prevent the ink from spreading among the fibres, by 
capillary attraction. In blotting-paper, the usual sizing 
is omitted, and in printing-paper less is used. The pa- 
per, after being dried, is pressed, examined, selected, 
and made into quires and reams. Hot-pressed paper 
is rendered glossy, by pressing it between hot plates of 
polished metal. 

Paper is also manufactured by machinery, and one 
of the most ingenious methods is that invented by the 
Messrs. Fourdrinier. In this arrangement, instead of 
moulds, the pulp is received in a continual stream, upon 
the surface of an endless web of brass wire, which ex- 
tends round two revolving cylinders, and is kept in con- 
tinual motion forwards, at the same time that it has a 
tremulous, or vibrating, motion. The pulp is thus made 
to form a long, continual sheet, which is wiped oflT from 
the wire web, by a revolving cylinder, covered with 
flannel, and, after being compressed between other cyl- 
inders, is finally wound into a coil, upon a reel prepar- 
ed for the purpose. From this reel it is again unwound, 
by means of machinery, and cut into sheets of uniform 
size. 

The machine-made papers possess many advantages ; 
they can receive, so to speak, unlimited dimensions ;* 
they preserve a perfectly uniform thickness, throughout 
all their length ; they may be fabricated in every sea- 
son of the year ; nor do they require to be sorted, trim- 

* Pieces have been made, twelve hundred yards long. 
14 S. A. 



158 CLOTH MANUFACTURE CONTINUED, ETC. 

med, and hung up in the drying-house, operations which 
occasioned great waste, amounting to no less than one 
defective sheet out of every five. The continuous 
paper, at one time, retained the impression of the 
wire-wove web, on its under side ; a defect from 
which it has been freed, by a pressure apparatus of Mr. 
Donkin. 

The greatest difficulty, formerly experienced in the 
paper manufactured upon the continuous system of 
Fourdrinier, was to remove the moisture from the pulp, 
and condense it with sufficient rapidity, so as to prevent 
its becoming what is called water-galled, and to permit 
the web to proceed directly to the drying cyhnders.^^ 
Hitherto, no invention has answered so well, in prac- 
tice, to remove this difficulty, as the channelled and 
perforated pulp-rollers, or dandies, of Mr. J. Wilks, the 
ingenious partner of Mr. Donkin. 

III. Chemical processes, employed in the manu- 
facture of Cloth. — These are. Bleaching, Scouring or 
Cleansing, Dying, and Calico Printing. 

1. Bleaching is the process, by which certain ani- 
mal and vegetable products, and especially such as are 
used as articles of clothing, are rendered white. The 
principal substances of the animal kingdom, which are 
subjected to the operation of bleaching, are wool and 
silk ; those of vegetable origin are chiefly cotton and 
flax. These bodies contain a quantity of coloring mat- 
ter, which, though natural to them, is not an essential 
constituent ; it appears, also, that the coloring matter 
is more readily acted upon by chemical agents, and suf- 
fers decomposition with greater facility, than the animal 
and vegetable matters with which it is united. On these 
accounts, it is removed by operations, producing little 
or no injurious eflfect upon the texture or durability of 
the articles from which it is separated, and thus, not 

* These are large, hollow, polished copper cylinders, heated from 
within by steam, and round which the moist sheets are carried, in 
order to be dried. Less than two minutes is required to transform 
the pulp into sheets of dry finished paper. 



BLEACHING. 159 

only is their beauty increased, but they are fitted for 
the reception of the colors of the dyer, and the orna- 
mental designs of the calico-printer. 

The destruction of the coloring matters, attached to 
the bodies to be bleached, is effected, either by the ac- 
tion of the air and light, of chlorine, or of sulphurous 
acid; which may be considered the three bleaching 
powers employed for manufacturing purposes. 

Bleaching, by the influence of air and sunshine, is 
the most ancient, and still the most common, method, 
in several civilized countries ; it is also supposed, by 
many, to be the least injurious to the texture of yarn 
and cloth. The operations it involves are very simple, 
consisting in the exposure of the goods upon a grass- 
plat, to the sky, with their occasional aspersion with 
moisture, if necessary, in addition to the rain and dew. 
The atmospheric air effects the bleaching, by means of 
its oxygenous constituent, which combines with the col- 
oring matter, or its elements, carbon and hydrogen, and 
either makes it nearly white, or converts it into a sub- 
stance, easily soluble in water and alkaline solutions. 
This natural process is too slow, to suit the modern 
demands of the cotton and linen manufacturers. For- 
tunately for them, a new bleaching agent, unknown to 
our forefathers, has been discovered, in chlorine, for- 
merly called oxymuriatic acid, an agent modified by 
chemistry so as to give an astonishing degree of rapid- 
ity, economy, and perfection, to this important art. It 
is, however, not a little surprising, that the science, 
which has so greatly advanced its practical part, should 
have left its theory far from complete, and should afford 
no satisfactory answers to the two following questions : 
What is the action of the solar rays upon the coloring 
matter ? How do air and chlorine operate upon this 
principle ? 

Chlorine was first used in the state of simple solu- 
tion in water ; afterwards, in order to lessen its de- 
structive action, when used in too concentrated a state, 
it was proposed to add potash to it. This compound, 



160 CLOTH MANUFACTURE CONTINUED, ETC. 

however, was not found to answer the purpose ; and 
the chloride of hme, generally known by the name of 
bleaching-powder, is now almost universally employed, 
especially in the bleaching of cotton ; it is a compound, 
which answers the purpose, with economy, celerity, and 
safety. 

The coloring matter of cotton, flax, and hemp, is in- 
soluble in water, and appears to be of a resinous na- 
ture ; it is partially dissolved by heated solutions of 
lime and potash, or soda ; and by their use, and the 
application of a solution of bleaching-powder and di- 
luted sulphuric acid, the coloring matter, which is not 
dissolved, is destroyed. Cotton is more readily bleach- 
ed than flax or hemp; and these, more readily than 
wool : indeed, this last-mentioned substance, as well as 
silk, is generally bleached by the fumes of burning sul- 
phur, or sulphurous acid gas, after they have been prop- 
erly cleansed. Straw and feathers are also bleached by 
sulphurous acid gas. Wax is generally deprived of its 
color by mere exposure to air, light, and moisture. 

With respect to the theory of bleaching, it may be 
observed, that the action of lime, and the alkalies pot- 
ash and soda, appears to be that ofvmere solvents ; they 
probably dissolve the coloring matter, without effecting 
much alteration in its properties. The action of at- 
mospheric air, and of chlorine, seem to be similar to each 
other, and very different from that of lime and the al- 
kalies ; the oxygen of the air, aided by the action of 
light and moisture, apparently combines with and de- 
stroys the coloring matter ; and the chlorine, decom- 
posing water, one portion of it forms muriatic acid, 
with its hydrogen, and another portion, with its oxy- 
gen, probably gives rise to a compound of easy decom- 
position, the nascent oxygen of which, acting like that 
of the air, though more powerfully, produces the same 
oxidizing effect upon the coloring matter, but more per- 
fectly, and in a much shorter period. 

That water is necessary to the action of chlorine 
upon vegetable coloring matter is shown, by immers* 



SCOURING AND CLEANSING. DYEING. 161 

ing dry coloring matter in the dry gas, in which case, 
no decoloration whatever is effected, but it ensues im- 
mediately on the introduction of water. The bleach- 
ing of rags, for paper-making, is effected by the agen- 
cy of chlorine. Paper, also, when written on or print- 
ed, may be bleached by the same means. 

There are some operations, in which the removal of 
color is hardly referrible to the process of bleaching ; 
such, for example, is the decoloration of sugar, which 
derives its color, not from any natural cause, but the 
partial decomposition effected by heat. This is remov- 
ed by what is usually termed animal-charcoal, or ivory- 
black ; this powerful decolorant is also used in some 
chemical operations, for the same purpose. 

2. Scouring and Cleansing. — Wool, in its prepara- 
tion for dyeing,requires to be cleansed from a fatty sub- 
stance, called the yolk^ which is contained in the fleece. 
This is done by means of a weak alkaline solution, 
which converts the yolk into soap. Putrid urine is 
commonly employed, on account of its cheapness ; 
the ammonia it contains being sufficient to remove 
the grease. 

Silk^ when taken from the cocoon, is covered with 
a kind of varnish, which, because it does not easily 
yield, either to water or alcohol, requires also the aid 
of a slight portion of alkali. Much care is necessary, 
however, in this operation ; since the silk itself is liable 
to be corroded and discolored. Fine soap is common- 
ly used ; but even this is said to be detrimental ; and 
the white China silk, which is supposed to be prepared 
without soap, has a lustre superior to the European. 

3. Dyeing is the art of staining textile substances 
with permanent colors. To cover their surfaces with 
coloring matters removable by abrasion, would be to 
apply a pigment, rather than to communicate a dye. 
Dye-stuff can penetrate the minute pores of vegetable 
and animal fibres, only when presented to them in a 
state of solution; and they can constitute /a^^ colors, 
only by passing afterwards into the state of insoluble 

14# 



162 CLOTH MANUFACTURE CONTINUED, ETC. 

compounds. Dyeing thus appears to be altogether a 
chemical process, and to require, for its due explana- 
tion and practice, an acquaintance with the properties 
of the elementary bodies, and the laws which regulate 
their combinations. 

Bergmann appears to have been the first, who refer- 
red to chemical affinities the phenomena of dyeing. 
Having plunged wool and silk into two separate ves- 
sels, containing solutions of indigo in sulphuric acid, 
diluted with a great deal of water, he observed that 
the wool abstracted much of the coloring matter, and 
took a deep blue tint, but that the silk was hardly 
changed. He ascribed this difference to the greater 
affinity subsisting between the particles of sulphate of 
indigo and wool, than between these and silk ; and he 
showed that the affinity of the wool is sufficiently ener- 
getic, to render the solution colorless, by attracting the 
whole of the indigo, while that of the silk can separate 
only a little of it. He thence concluded, that dyes 
owed both their permanence and their depth to the 
intensity of that attractive force. 

We have, therefore, to consider, in dyeing, the play 
of affinities, between the liquid medium, in which the 
dye is dissolved, and the fibrous substance to be dyed. 
When wool is plunged in a bath, containing cochineal, 
tartar, and salt of tin, it readily assumes a beautiful 
scarlet hue ; but when cotton is subjected to the same 
bath, it receives only a feeble pink tinge. Dufay took 
a piece of cloth, woven of woollen warp and cotton 
weft, and having exposed it to the fulling-mill, in order 
that both kinds of fibres might receive the same treat- 
ment, he then subjected it to the scarlet dye : he found 
that the woollen threads became of a vivid red, while 
the cotton continued white. By studying these differ- 
ences of affinity, and by varying the preparations and 
processes, with the same or different dye-stuffs, we may 
obtain an indefinite variety of colors, of variable solidity 
and depth of shade. 

Dye-stuffs, whether of vegetable or animal origin. 



MORDANTS. 163 

though susceptible of solution in water, and, in this 
state, of penetrating the pores of fibrous bodies, seldom 
possess, alone, the power of fixing their particles so dur- 
ably, as to be capable of resisting the action of water, 
light, and air. For this purpose, they require to be 
aided by another class of bodies, already alluded to, 
which bodies may not possess any color, in themselves, 
but serve, in this case, merely as a bond of union, be- 
tween the dye and the substance to be dyed. These 
bodies were supposed, in the infancy of the art, to seize 
the fibres, by an agency analogous to that of the teeth 
of animals, and were hence called mordants, from the 
Latin verb mordere, to bite. However preposterous 
this comparison is now known to be, the term derived 
from it has gained such a footing, in the language of 
the dyer, that all writers upon this art are compelled to 
adopt it. 

Mordants may be regarded, in general, as not only 
fixing, but also occasionally modifying, the dye, by 
forming with the coloring particles an insoluble com- 
pound, which is deposited within the textile fibres. 
Such dyes as are capable of passing from the soluble 
into the insoluble state, and of thus becoming perma- 
nent, without the addition of a mordant, have been 
called substantive, and all the others have been called 
adjective, colors. Indigo and tannin are perhaps the 
only dyes, of organic origin, to which the title substan- 
tive can be applied ; and even they, probably, are so 
altered by atmospheric oxygen, in their fixation upon 
stuffs, as to form no exception to the true theory of 
mordants. Mordants are of primary importance, in 
dyeing ; they enable us to vary the colors, almost in- 
definitely, with the same dye ; to increase their lustre, 
and to give them a durability, which they otherwise 
could not possess. A mordant is not always a simple 
agent ; but in the mixture of which it consists, various 
compounds may be formed, so that the substances may 
not act directly, but through a series of transformations. 
Sometimes, the mordant is mixed with the coloring mat- 



164 CLOTH MANUFACTURE CONTINUED, ETC. 

ters ; sometimes, it is applied by itself, first of all, to the 
stuff; and at others, both these methods are conjoined. 
We may dye, successively, with liquors which contain 
the same substances, which will act differently, accord- 
ing to the different mordants employed. One solution 
will give up its base to the stuff only when aided by 
heat ; another acts better and more uniformly, when 
cold, though this is a rarer case. 

When a mordant consists of a changeable metallic 
oxide, as of iron or tin, unless great nicety be used in 
its application, either no effect, or an injurious one, may 
be produced upon the dye. All these circumstances 
prove how necessary it is for the dyer to be thoroughly 
versed in chemical science. Each of the great dye- 
works, in Alsace, celebrated for the beauty and fixity 
of their colors, is superintended, in the laboratory-de- 
partment, by a gentleman, who has studied chemistry 
for two or more sessions in the universities of Paris, 
or some other eminent schools. The numerous com- 
plaints which have been made of the fugitiveness of 
the color of our calicoes, and especially of our cloth 
dyes, ought to rivet the attention of all great manu- 
facturers and merchants on this important desideratum, 
and to lead them to supply it, by consulting qualified 
persons as to the best means of improving this great 
branch of national industry. 

4. Calico Printing, — This is the art of impressing 
cotton cloth with topical dyes, of more or less perma- 
nence. Of late years, silk and woollen fabrics have been 
made the subjects of a similar style of dyeing. Linens 
were formerly stained with various colored designs, but 
since the modern improvements in the manufacture of 
cotton cloth, they are seldom printed, as they are both 
dearer, and produce less beautiful work, because flax 
possesses less affinity than cotton, for coloring matters. 

The principles of calico-printing have been very 
profoundly studied, by many of the French manufac- 
turers, who generally keep a chemist, who had been ed- 
ucated in the Parisian schools of science, constantly at 



CALICO-PRINTING. 165 

work, making experiments upon colors, in a well- 
furnished laboratory. 

Calicoes, muslins, &c., intended for printing, must 
be, first of all, freed from their fibrous down, by the 
action of the singeing machine. This consists either 
of a semi-cyhnder of cast-iron, laid horizontally, and 
kept at a bright red heat by a furnace, or of a horizon- 
tal range of gas-jet flames : over one of these, the plane 
of cloth is drawn, with a steady continuous motion, and 
at a rate suited to its texture. When gas flames are 
employed, a fine of suction-tubes is placed over the ex- 
tended web, to draw the flame up through the inter- 
stices of the cloth, which eflectually cleans the threads. 
The cotton cloth must be next well bleached, because 
the whiter it is, the more light will it reflect from its 
surface, and the more brilliant will be the color of its 
dyes. The first step in the bleaching process is boil- 
ing the cloth in an alkaline bath, which, for delicate, fine 
goods, consists of a weak solution of soda, and for 
stronger articles, a mixture of slaked lime and water. 

The goods are next steeped, for a few hours, in a 
leaden or wooden cistern, containing a weak solution 
of chloride of lime, usually called bleaching salt. They 
are once more rinsed. They are are now boiled in an 
alkaline lie, made of crude soda dissolved in water, and 
freed from its impurities by filtrations or subsidence. 
The goods are again rinsed, and finished by a steep in 
sulphuric acid, very largely diluted with water. This 
removes any adhering particles of lime or iron, which 
would be apt to give the cloth, after some time, a yel- 
low tint. They are last of all rinsed, dried, and some- 
times smoothed under the calender, a machine composed 
of rollers and beaters, by which the fibres of the cloth 
are thickened, and the surface is both smoothed and 
polished. 

If they are not calendered, they are run through 
a machine, called in Lancashire the candroy, which 
spreads them smoothly in the act of rolling them upon 
a cvlinder. 



166 CLOTH MANUFACTURE CONTINUED, ETC. 

There are four mechanical modes of printing cali- 
coes ; first, by small wooden blocks, worked by hand ; 
second, by large wooden blocks, set in a frame, and 
worked by a machine called the Perrotine, from the 
name of its ingenious inventor, M. Perrot, of Rouen ; 
third, by flat copper plates, (a method now nearly ob- 
solete ;) and fourth, by copper cylinders, mounted in a 
machine of great elegance and productive powers, but 
of no little cost and complexity, called a one, two, three, 
four, or five, colored calico-printing machine, according 
as it is mounted with one, two, or more, cylinders. The 
fifth color is generally applied, by what is called a sur- 
face-cyUnder, covered with figures like types, in bas- 
relief. 

Calico-printing, by hand, is performed by applying 
the face of the block to a piece of woollen cloth, 
stretched over one end of a sieve-hoop, and imbued 
with the coloring matter, of a thin pasty consistence, 
by means of a flat brush. The block is then applied to 
the surface of the cotton cloth, while extended upon a 
flat table, covered with a blanket, and the impression 
is transferred to it by striking the back of the block 
with a light mallet. This method, besides the great 
cost of labor which it involves, has the inconvenience 
of causing many irregularities in the execution of the 
work. It has been superseded, to a considerable ex- 
tent, both in France and Belgium, by the Perrotine, a 
machine of a most novel and elegant description. 
Three thin wooden blocks, engraved in relief, about 
three feet long, and from two to five inches broad, are 
successively brought to bear on three of the four faces 
of a prismatic roller of iron, round which the cloth is 
successively wound. Each block rests on springs, 
which enable it to press with the delicacy of a skilful 
arm ; and each receives its peculiar colored paste from 
a woollen surface imbued by a mechanical brush in 
rapid alternation. '^ We have seen this machine," says 
Dr. Ure, ^' operate in many print-works, with surprising 
speed and precision ; its moving shaft being driven, 



CALICO PRINTING. 167 

either by arms or by a steam pulley-band. One man, 
with three children for superintending the three colors, 
can turn off about thirty pieces, English, in a day, 
which is the work of fully twenty men and twenty chil- 
dren in ordinary block-printing. To print a piece of 
cloth by hand, the block must be applied four hundred 
and forty-eight times, for each color. The machine, 
moreover, may be conducted by persons with little 
manual dexterity, and therefore entitled to compara- 
tively low wages. The use of the Perrotine is spread- 
ing rapidly into every quarter of the continent, even 
into Russia ; though hitherto unknown in England. It 
executes a style of work different, in some respects, 
from that of the cylinder. This latter machine is a 
hollow cylinder of copper, fully three feet long and 
three or four inches in diameter, whose surface is en- 
graved, not by the hand-graver, but by the mechanical 
pressure of a steel roller, from one to two inches in di- 
ameter, and three inches long, which transfers the fig- 
ures engraved on it to the relatively softer copper. 

'^ The engraved cylinders are mounted upon a strong 
iron shaft, or arbor, carrying a toothed wheel at its end, 
in order to put it in train with the rotary printing ma- 
chine, for one, two, or more colors. On a roller, at the 
upper part of this apparatus, are wound whole calico 
webs, stitched together, the end of which is then intro- 
duced between the engraved copper cylinder and a 
large central cylinder, covered with a blanket, against 
which it is made to bear, with regulated pressure. 
The engraved cylinder turns on the top of another 
cylinder, covered with woollen cloth, which revolves 
with the former, while its under part is plunged in an 
oblong trough containing the dyeing matter, which is 
of a pasty consistence. The engraved cyhnder is thus 
supplied with an abundance of impressible color, and 
is cleared from the superfluity, by the thin edge of a flat 
ruler, made of bronze, called vulgarly the doctor, (due- 
tor,) which is applied obliquely to it, with a gentle force. 
The cyhnder, after its escape from this wiping tool, acts 



168 CLOTH MANUFACTURE CONTINUED, ETC. 

upon the calico, and rolls it onwards, with its revolution, 
imparting its figured designs with great precision." 

The improvements which have been made, within 
the last seventy-five years, in the manufacture of cloth, 
paper, &c., have added, in an almost incredible degree, 
to the physical enjoyment of mankind. Fabrics, which 
were previously regarded as articles of luxury, and 
worn only by the affluent, now make part of the ordi- 
nary vestments of the poor. The calicoes which can now 
be purchased at six or seven cents a yard, would proba- 
bly have cost fifty cents, seventy-five years ago ; and all 
other cotton goods were in nearly the same proportion. 
Then, the finer kinds of these goods were imported 
from India, where they were manufactured, as we have 
already seen, in looms of the rudest construction, 
worked by hand. Now, the raw cotton can be import- 
ed from that country, made up into goods, in the man- 
ufactories of our own State, and returned again to Cal- 
cutta, paying the cost of manufacture and transporta- 
tion, for fourteen thousand miles, and yet, after all, be 
sold cheaper than they can be bought of the Native man- 
ufacturer : and it is a fact, that, even in India, where 
labor is comparatively so very cheap, the Native weav- 
er is driven out of business, by the competition of the 
English and American manufacturers, and is induced to 
give to the raising of cotton the time and labor which 
were formerly bestowed on spinning and weaving. If 
such be the effect in India, how much greater must it 
be in our own country, where the manufactured goods 
cannot be subjected to a charge, in any degree so 
heavy, for transportation, and where the saving of hu- 
man labor is an object of so much greater importance. 
It is estimated that in England, owing partly to the 
diminished price of the fabric and partly to the increase 
of wealth which has been produced by the cotton man- 
ufacture, thirty persons can now afford to wear cotton, 
where one could afford it, thirty years since. The in- 
creased consumption in this country is probably nearly 



CONCLUSION. 169 

as great. Persons, who can remember the habits of 
farmers and mechanics, forty years ago, assure us, that 
then, cotton was very rarely worn by those classes ; 
that shirting was generally made of coarse woollen, or 
linen of domestic manufacture, — an article, which cost 
probably twice as much as good cotton cloth now costs 
and was yet of very indifferent quality. The improve- 
ment has not been less rapid, in the quality and quan- 
tity of woollen cloths. A few years since, a large pro- 
portion of all the woollen worn was manufactured in 
private famihes, at great cost, and still was very coarse. 
Now, no family can afford to manufacture ; and a ma- 
terial, which, thirty years since, would have been pur- 
chased only by a gentleman of some substance, is now 
within the means of the humblest mechanic and every- 
day laborer.*" Take the single article of stockings, 
for example. It is but three or four centuries since 
knit hose were first worn at all ; and even one hundred 
years ago, not one person in five hundred could afford 

*The amazing rapidity with which the production and consump- 
tion of cotton has increased, during the last seventy years, will be ob- 
vious, from the following facts : 

1. In 1770, when Arkwright's improvements began to be first in- 
troduced, the annual consumption of cotton in British manufacture 
was under four millions of pounds, and that of the whole of Christen- 
dom was probably not over ten millions. In 1838, the consumption 
of cotton in Great Britain and Ireland was over three hundred mil- 
lions of pounds, and that of Europe and the United States together, 
not less than six hundred millions. 

2. From the statements of a writer in the Boston Daily Advertiser, 
who signs himself ' a cotton manufacturer,' it would appear, that 
the above falls short of the truth. He represents the cotton raised 
in the United States, in 1820, to have been about one hundred and 
thirty-six millions of pounds ; in 1838, six hundred and eighty-six 
millions, — making an increase of fivefold^ in eighteen years. The 
exports of cotton, from the United States, for the same years, were, 
for 1820, one hundred and fifteen millions of pounds ; for 1838, six 
hundred and two millions of pounds. 

8. According to the same writer, the consumption of cotton, in 
1800, in Great Britain, was fifty-two millions ; in 1820, it was one 
hundred and twenty-six millions ; and in 1837, it was three hun- 
dred and fifty-seven millions ; showing that the increase in the con- 
sumption, for the last eighteen or twenty years, has been nearly 
three times as great as in the preceding period of that duration. 
15 S. A. 



170 THE DOMESTIC ARTS. 

to wear them. But since the stocking-frame was in- 
vented, the article has been produced by machinery, 
and now few persons are without them. What more 
certain sign is there, of abject poverty and wretched- 
ness, than to see an individual in Winter without a 
pair of stockings ! 



CHAPTER VIII. 



THE DOMESTIC ARTS. 



Under this title, we shall include the various meth- 
ods of preparing and preserving human food. This 
food is rarely produced, by Nature, in that state in 
which it is most agreeable or beneficial to the human 
system. In order to be brought into this state, animal 
and vegetable substances are subjected to several differ- 
ent processes, which serve to soften their solid fibres, to 
extract or dissolve their nutritive or exhilarating princi- 
ples, and in some cases to effect an entire change in 
their chemical constitution. It is to be observed, too, 
that these substances are no sooner deprived of life, than 
they tend to decompose, owing, in part, to the strong af- 
finity which subsists between their constituent elements, 
and which inclines them to quit the state of combina- 
tion in which they previously existed, and to form new- 
combinations. To the spontaneous changes, which are 
thus produced, we give, in the case of vegetables, the 
name of fermentation ; in the case of animal substances, 
we call it putrefaction : and, as it is apt to render a 
substance useless, it is evidently very important, that 
the housekeeper should know how to anticipate and 
prevent it. Hence, this subject will lead us to treat of 
methods for preservings as well as i^reparing, articles 
intended for food. Tliere are other cases, however, in 
which fermentation may be turned to a very useful ac- 
count, as in the manufacture of bread, beer, cider, wine, 



DIVISION OF SUBJECT. 171 

&c. ; processes which depend almost entirely on the 
proper management of fermentation. We shall take 
occasion, therefore, to give a brief account of the prin- 
ciples on which these processes depend. We are aware, 
that some of them, such, for example, as the making of 
wine, have almost ceased to be domestic ; but, as our 
object is chiefly to exhibit principles, we may associate 
the arts according to their agreement in this respect, 
and shall therefore treat, in this Chapter, 

I. Of the various arts most intimately connected with 
fermentation^ namely, bread-makings brewings wine 
and cider making, 

II. Of the management of heat, in distillation, and 
in the culinary processes. 

III. Of the management of milk, and the making 
of butter and cheese. 

IV. Oi preserving animal and vegetable substances. 
It is obvious, that all these are chemical arts, and it 

will be our principal business, in this Chapter, to exhibit 
the practical applications of that science. Various me- 
chanical contrivances have been adopted for saving la- 
bor and time,^ and also for improving the products of 

* One instance of such contrivance may be seen in the machinery 
for making ship biscuit. The process adopted in the victualling yard 
at Gosport, (England,) is said to be as follows : 

1. The meal and water are mixed, by being placed in a revolving 
cylinder, working horizontally, and having its shaft armed with knives. 
The shaft being set in motion, the knives turn around through the 
meal and water, the dough soon begins to assume a consistency, and 
in two minutes, five hundred pounds will be completely manufactured. 

2. The dough falls into a trough, from which it is easily removed, 
and placed under the breaking rollers, to undergo the second opera- 
tion, that is, kneading. These breaking rollers, two in number, and 
weighing fifteen hundred pounds each, pass backwards and forwards, 
over the dough, during the space of five minutes, when it will be 
brought to a perfect and equal consistency. 

3. From the breaking rollers, the dough is cut into pieces, eighteen 
inches square,, and placed on boards, which are conveyed, by friction 
rollers, under a second set of rollers, to be rolled to the required 
thickness. 

4. Being rolled, the dough is carried under the cutting and stamp- 
ing plate, which, at the same moment, cuts and docks, or pierces, 
the sheet of dough into forty-two six-sided biscuits, and these are 
then conveyed on carriages to the oven. 



172 THE DOMESTIC ARTS. 

these arts. But on these, we shall be able to bestow 
only a passing notice. 

I. Fermentation. — There are two kinds of fermen- 
tation,^ to be attended to in the arts, called vinous and 
acetous fermentation ; so called, because alcohol is pro- 
duced in the first case, and acetic acid, or vinegar, in 
the second. It is found, by experience, that the vinous 
fermentation, if carried too far, passes into the acetous ; 
and much of the art, therefore, of the haker, hreiver^ 
and tciiiemaker, consists in arresting the process at the 
proper point. 

1. Vinous fermentation takes place in saccharine 
substances, or those which have sugar as an ingredient, 
and seems to consist in changing the sugar into alcohol 
and carbonic acid. This is the case in raising or work- 
ing bread, where the saccharine matter of the flour is 
resolved into alcohol, which is carried off" in baking, and 
into carbonic acid gas, which, being prevented from es- 
caping, by the tenacity of the dough, heaves and swells 
it, and gives it a porous consistency. We see the vinous 
fermentation, again, in the brewing of Summer beer, 
where a mixture of molasses or honey with water is fer- 
mented by means of yeast, or some other leaven, and a 
particular flavor imparted to it by spruce, ginger, &c. 

Formerly, all these operations had to be performed by hand, the 
expense being nearly four times as great, and the process much less 
clean and perfect. Biscuit mixed and cut by hand is unequally bak- 
ed, because the meal and water do not combine thoroughly, and also 
because the biscuits are of unequal thickness. Hence it becomes 
what is Xermeii flinty. 

A very ingenious machine for making biscuit has been invented 
by Mr. John Bruce, of the city of New York. It turns off about ten 
hundred weight per hour. 

* Strictly speaking, there Hive five species of fermentation, 1. Sac- 
charine, in which starch and gum are changed into sugar ; this pre- 
cedes the vinous fermentation. 2. Vinous, in which sugar is con- 
verted into alcohol. 3. Mucilaginous, in which sugar is converted 
into slime, instead of alcohol. 4. ^fce/oi^s, producing vinegar. 5. Pu- 
trefactive. In all cases, fermentation involves the decomposition of 
the proximate principles (sugar, starch, gluten, &c.) of organic bod- 
ies, and a new combination of the oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, (and 
in some cases nitrogen,) which form their ultimate principles. 



MALT-LIQ,UORS. ^WINE, ETC. 173 

The liveliness of the beer is owing to the carbonic acid 
generated by fermentation. 

We see the vinous fermentation, also, in brewing the 
malt-liquors, such as ale, porter, &c. Here, a hquid, 
called ivorty which is produced by boihng hops, in a de- 
coction of malt, is fermented, by the addition of yeast. 
The hops have the effect, not only of imparting a bitter 
aromatic taste to the liquor, but also of preventing the 
disposition, which previously existed, to acetous fer- 
mentation. It may be proper to add, that malt is grain 
which has been made to germinate by the artificial use 
of heat and water, the germination being arrested, as 
soon as the starch of the grain has been converted, by 
saccharine fermentation, into starch-sugar, and is thus 
fitted to produce a sweet liquid. Owing to the muci- 
laginous and extractive matters which are contained in 
malt liquors, they are greatly disposed to pass into the 
acetous fermentation, and are therefore kept w4th diffi- 
culty. 

In these cases, it will be observed, that the process 
of fermenting is not spontaneous, but must be excited 
by yeast.^* How this substance produces the effect, is 
not well known. There are other cases, where fer- 
mentation takes place of itself, as in the manufacture 
of ivine and cider. The saccharine juices of plants 
seem to possess some principle, which, by being expos- 
ed to the air, is converted into yeast, or at least ac- 
quires the characteristic property of that substance, by 
absorbing oxygen. 

Whie is obtained from the juice of the grape, currant, 
gooseberry, &c. The grape is superior to all other 
fruits, for this purpose ; not merely because it contains 
more saccharine matter, since that deficiency might be 
supplied by adding sugar, but on account of the nature 

* Bread is frequently raised, in our newly-settled districts, by a 
mixture of salt and warm water, with a small portion of flour. This 
composition must be kept standing, two or three hours, at the temper- 
fiture of tepid water, and is then applied to the flour. New milk 
from the cow may be used instead of the water. 

15* 



174 THE DOMESTIC ARTS. 

of its acid. The chief, if not the only, acid principle 
in the ripe grape, when raised in a warm climate, is the 
bitartrate of potassa. But it so happens, that this sub- 
stance is insoluble in the alcohol generated by vinous 
fermentation, and is therefore deposited, either during 
that process, or subsequently, while the wine is ad- 
vancing towards perfection, and hence the crust which 
we find on the inside of bottles which have held old 
wine. The juices of other fruits, on the contrary, con- 
tain the malic and citric acids, which are soluble both in 
water and alcohol, and of which, therefore, they can 
never be deprived. Consequently, the wine made of 
these juices (and the remark applies to cider) are only 
rendered palatable, by the presence of free sugar, which 
conceals the taste of the acid ; and to obtain this, it is 
necessary to arrest the progress of the fermentation, 
long before the whole of the saccharine matter is con- 
sumed. For the same reason, these wines do not admit 
of being kept long ; since, as soon as the free sugar is 
converted into alcohol, by the slow fermentative process, 
(which, though it may be retarded, by the addition of 
brandy, cannot be entirely prevented,) the wine ac- 
quires a strong sour taste. 

2. Acetous fermentation generally follows that which 
is vinous ; and in that case, seems to consist in chang- 
ing alcohol into acetic acid or vinegar. It takes place 
most rapidly at a temperature above seventy degrees of 
Fahrenheit's thermometer, and is promoted by contact 
with the air, and by moisture. Hence, if it is to be 
prevented, as in making wine, cider, &c., the liquid 
should be kept cool, and be excluded from air. It is 
important to remember, that the vinous is always apt to 
pass into the acetous fermentation ; and that, to avoid 
this, requires the closest attention on the part of the 
manufacturer.* 

* In making vinegar, our object is to excite the acetous fermenta- 
tion. This is effected, by exposing the wine, cider, or beer, used for 
the purpose, in an open vessel, to the heat of the sun, in Summer, or 
to that of a stove, in Winter. Some substance, calculated to assist 



ACETOUS FERMENTATION. 175 

To assist in preventing acetous fermentation, the 
manufacturer of wine sometimes fumigates his casks, 
by kindhng hnen rags, dipped in melted brimstone, and 
allowing the vapor to enter the cask. The effect is, to 
confine the fixed air contained in the wine or cider, 
and to stop its fermentation. When once the acetous 
fermentation begins, however, it is impossible to restore 
the wine to its original state ; and hence the various 
methods which have been devised, to conceal the acid 
in wine, so that they, who have not an accurate judge- 
ment in such matters, not unfrequently purchase sweet- 
ened vinegar, in lieu of wine. Nor is this the greatest 
evil of such adulterations. One of the substances, most 
commonly employed for the purpose, is sugar of lead, 
which, though it stops fermentation, and imparts a 
sweet taste to sour wine, is an active poison, and, when 
combined with wine, frequently occasions colic, and 
other diseases. The adulteration of wine is practis- 
ed so extensively, that those who have investigated 
the subject assure us, that, where one gallon of pure 
wine is consumed in this country, ten or more, that 
have been fabricated in our seaports and other places, 
are used. Frauds, committed in the adulteration of 
spirit and wine, in the city of New York alone, amount, 

fermentation, is also added, such as yeast, a piece of dough, or the 
coagulated ropy mucilage found in old vinegar, and which is gener- 
ally called the mother of vinegar. In making vinegar from wine and 
malt, the lees, or refuse, of wine is also used, to promote fermenta- 
tion. Vinegar may also be obtained from wood, (when it is called 
pyroligneous acid,) from whiskey, and from sugar, or molasses. 
To obtain it from sugar, the following method is taken. Ten pounds 
of sugar are added to eight gallons of water, with yeast, and raisins or 
grape cuttings, for the sake of flavor, and perhaps to assist in the 
fermentation. Twelve pints of bruised gooseberries, or other fruits, 
are added ; and, by a process similar to that for cider, a good vine- 
gar is produced in the course of the Summer. Vinegar is frequently 
adulterated, by having sulphuric acid mixed with it, in order to in- 
crease its acidity ; and also by the iiddit'ion of copper and lead. The 
adulteration may bo detected by adding a little chalk, which, uniting 
with the sulphuric acid, will form a white insoluble powder ; or by 
employing ammonia, when we suspect copper ; or sulphate of soda, 
when wc suspect lead. 



176 THE DOMESTIC ARTS. 

it is supposed, to at least three millions of dollars, an- 
nually. On the arrival of a cargo of wine^ in that 
city, it is often purchased up, at once, by the manu- 
facturer, and in less than twenty-four hours its char- 
acter is completely changed. It is poured into large 
vats, prepared on extensive premises, is mixed with 
sour beer, (most of the sour beer in our cities is drank 
by some one in this shape,) with cider, and certain pro- 
portions of certain drugs. In this way, by due mix- 
tures, the same fountain is made to send forth, at one 
time, Madeira ; at another. Port ; at another. Sherry, 
&c. To conceal the fraud more effectually, casks and 
bottles, bearing the original importing or customhouse 
mark, are bought at a price many times that of their 
real value, and, after being emptied of their contents, 
return to the manufacturer, and are thus made to per- 
form the work of being accessary to frauds many times. 
These facts, received from individuals who have been 
engaged in the manufacture and vending of factitious 
wines, show how applicable to New York, and other 
American cities, at this time, are the remarks made by 
Addison, respecting London, more than a century since. 

^' There are," says he,f "in this city, a fraternity of 
chemical operators, who work under ground, in holes, 
caverns, and dark retirements, to conceal their mys- 
teries from the observation of mankind. These sub- 
terranean philosophers are daily employed in the trans- 
mutation of liquors ; and, by the power of magical 
drugs and incantations, raising, under the streets of 
London the choicest products of the hills and valleys 
of France. They can squeeze claret out of the sloe, and 
draw champaigne from an apple." 

II. We now come to heat, as employed in distilla- 
Hon and in culinary processes, 

* This wine is often adulterated or fabricated, before it leaves its 
native land. Large manufactories for the fabrication of counterfeit 
wine exist in the south of Europe, and a comparison of the produce 
of the vineyards with the quantity of wino exported shows that not 
a small proportion of the latter must be factitious. 

tTatler, No. 131. 



DISTILLATION. 177 

1. Distillation. — This art is founded on the dif- 
ferent tendencies which bodies have to pass into vapor^ 
and to be condensed again by cold. It is employed in 
order to separate the more volatile substances, such as 
alcohol, the essences, essential oils, &c., from other 
substances with which they are combined. This is 
accomplished, by applying heat to the compound, so 
regulated, that the volatile hquid will rise in vapor, 
leaving the other in a liquid state ; and this vapor is 
then condensed, by passing through a worm, immersed 
in cold water. Sometimes the operation is conducted 
in a vessel, from which the air has been expelled ; and 
in that case, as fluids boil in a vacuum, at a tempera- 
ture much below that at which they boil in the air, the 
extract is obtained in its most perfect state. 

In the case of the essential oils, water is put into the 
still, along with the plant, in order to prevent the latter 
from being burned. The oil and water both pass over 
into the receiver, and the oil collects at the top or bot- 
tom of the water, according to its density. These oils 
are very useful, as solvents in the arts, and as medicines. 
In these respects they might often be advantageously 
substituted for alcohol, which, unfortunately for the 
world, has enjoyed much more repute than it deserves. 
It is doubtless useful in some chemical and pharmaceuti- 
cal processes, and affords a very convenient solvent for 
resins, balsams, and the vegetable alkaline principles. It 
is certain, however, that on many occasions, when we 
now resort to it, the essential oils, or some other substi- 
tute, might subserve the same purpose. A distinguished 
physician, when speaking of its use, as a medicine and 
as a beverage, says, ^^ But if useless as a preventive, is 
not alcohol important in the treatment of disease ? I 
admit that it is sometimes convenient ; but I deny that 
it is essential to the practice of physic or surgery. Do 
we wish to rekindle the taper of life, as it glimmers in 
a fainting fit ; we have ammonia, and the volatile oils ; 
and, what is better than every thing else, cold water, to 
be administered by affusion. Is it required to produce 



178 THE DOMESTIC ARTS. 

a tonic effect, in the case of long-standing debility ? the 
tonic roots, and barks, and woods, impart their invig- 
orating properties to water and acid. Are we called 
upon to relieve pain ? opium is altogether superior to 
alcohol. Do we need a solvent for opium ? we have it 
in the acetous acid. The black drop is one of the best 
solutions of opium ever invented. 

^' But what is to be done with the medicinal resins 
and aromatic oils, — must not they be dissolved in al- 
cohol ? The medicinal resins do not constitute a very 
important class of remedies ; but they may be given in 
fine powder, rubbed with some inert friable substance, 
or dissolved in an essential oil, or made into an emul- 
sion. The ordinary mode of using them does not 
carry them into the stomach in the state of solution, as 
they are instantly precipitated, in a flocculent form, on 
being thrown into water. As for the aromatic oils, 
they may be given in the form of liquid soap, or emul- 
sion, rubbed with alkali, or sugar and water; and in this 
way they exert their specific effects. 

" Is the physician required to prescribe a restorative ? 
if quinine and bark, and bitters and metallic tonics, will 
not do, shall he prescribe alcohol ? This is never cer- 
tain, and always unsafe, inasmuch as there is imminent 
danger of a permanent relish being acquired for it ; nor 
does it compare, in its restorative powers, in cases 
where the complaint was not produced or modified by 
the previous use of it, with the pure fermented and well 
preserved juices of the grape and the apple. The fac- 
titious wines, extensively vended in our country, are 
poor restoratives ; they contain a large proportion of 
alcohol. 

'^ I maintain, then, that, taking into view the danger 
of making tipplers, by giving ardent spirit to the sick, 
and considering that all its medicinal virtues are found 
in other articles, mankind would not, on the whole, be 
losers, if it should be banished, not only from the houses 
of every class of the community, but also from the shops 
of the apothecary. 



CULINARY PROCESSES. 179 

" What is the secret of the witchery, which strong 
drink exerts over the whole man ? I will try to tell 
you. After being received into the stomach, it is 
sucked up by absorbent vessels, is carried into the 
blood, and circulates through the alimentary organs, 
through the lungs, muscles, and brain, and doubtless 
through every organ of the body. Not a bloodvessel, 
however minute, not a thread of nerve, in the whole 
animal machine, escapes its influence. What is the 
nature of this influence ? It disturbs the functions of 
life ; it increases, for a time, the action of living organs, 
but lessens the power of that action ; hence the deep 
depression and collapse which follow preternatural ex- 
citement. By habitual use, it renders the living fibres 
less and less susceptible to the healthy operation of un- 
stimulating food and drink, its exciting influences soon 
become incorporated with all the living actions of the 
body ; and the diurnal sensations of hunger, thirst, and 
exhaustion, are strongly associated with the recollection 
of its exhilarating effects, and thus bring along with 
them the resistless desire for its repetition." 

2. Culinary Processes, — The preparation of vege- 
table and animal food depends almost entirely upon 
the proper management of heat. It is applied in two 
principal ways ; first, through water, for the purpose of 
extracting from vegetable and animal substances their 
nutritive or exhilarating principles. We have examples 
of this, in the making of tea, coffee, soups, &c. Hot 
liquids are much more powerful solvents than cold 
ones ; and hence, by boiling a substance in water, its 
soluble parts will be extracted and mixed with the fluid. 
In conducting this operation, two things require spe- 
cial attention ; first, the quality of the water, which is 
often mixed with foreign substances, such as hme and 
calcareous salts. These render water hard, and may 
be precipitated to the bottom of the vessel, either by 
boiling, before we use the water, or, more perfectly, by 
adding a little soda or potash. This eflect of boihng 
explains wliy tea-kettles and boilers are so frequently 



180 ♦ THE DOMESTIC ARTS. 

incrusted on the inside. The quahty of the water 
may be ascertained, before using it, by adding soda or 
potash. If it be impure, it will become turbid, and a 
white powder will be precipitated. 

The second thing to be attended to, in boiling, is 
the vessel. As it is an object to secure a high heat, 
the vessel should be so constructed, as, on the one 
hand, to conduct the heat rapidly from the fire to the 
fluid within, and on the other hand, to prevent its 
escape at the sides and top. This is effected, in part, 
by having the bottom of the vessel black and rough, 
since such surfaces absorb heat more readily than 
those which are smooth and light colored. On the 
same principle, the top and sides should be polished, 
and of lighter color. It is also important, if we would 
maintain a high temperature, at the least expense of 
fuel, to keep the vessel closely shut, in order to prevent 
the escape of heat by radiation and conduction, and 
also, (since steam forms at two hundred and twelve 
degrees Fahrenheit,) in order to prevent steam from 
passing off" through the spout or top, and thus occasion- 
ing a waste of heat. On this account, a vessel has 
been constructed, for the special purpose of preventing 
such escape of heat. It is called Papin's digester. The 
top and sides are surrounded with a non-conducting 
substance ; the vessel is kept perfectly closed, and the 
temperature of the contained fluid is often four hundred 
degrees. It has been found sufficient to dissolve ani- 
mal bones, and is used in extracting from them the 
gelatin which forms the principal material in the porta- 
ble soup, which is taken on long voyages, &c. Boil- 
ing is used not only to extract the soluble parts of veg- 
etable and animal substances, but also to fit these sub- 
stances themselves for becoming food. The precise 
change which it effects is but imperfectly understood. 
We know that vegetables, such as potatoes, &c., which, 
before boiling, are watery, ill-flavored, and extremely 
indigestible, are rendered, by this process, dry, farina- 
ceous, and very digestible ; and it is pretty well ascer- 



MANAGEMENT OF MILK. 181 

tained that this change consists, not merely in the soft- 
ening of the fibres, the sohition of some and the coag- 
ulation of others, of their juices and principles, but that 
these principles are decomposed^ and combined anew, 
so that they are no longer distinguishable by the forms 
and properties which they previously possessed. 

This remark applies, also, to the changes produced 
by dry-heat, on vegetable and animal substances. Bread, 
for example, by bSng'baked, is not only rendered light- 
er, by the expansion of the gas ccfnrtained in the paste, 
but its constituent principles are so completely changed, 
that, on analyzing it, the proximate ingredients of the 
flour are no longer to be found. So in the roasting 
and baking of fruits, we sometimes find acid destroy- 
ed, saccharine matter formed, mucilage and gelly ex- 
tracted, or combined anew, so that the product exhibits 
properties very different from those of the raw material. 
The same is true of meats. When baked or stewed, 
the jelly, oil, and albumen, are separated, dissolved, 
mixed, or combined anew. Perhaps the simplest form 
of preparing meat is by roasting. Here, some chang- 
es, both of texture and composition, take place, but not 
so great, but that we can still detect, on analysis, many 
of its original properties. 

Before leaving the culinary processes, it might seem 
proper to advert to various spices and condiments, which 
are employed in giving flavor to food. To the influence 
which they exert, in preventing decay, we shall refer 
hereafter. The manner in which their flavor is extract- 
ed, by heat and by fluids, must be sufficiently obvious. 
We proceed to consider, 

3. The Management of Milk. — If milk be allowed 
to stand, it will separate into three distinct parts, of 
which it is composed. The cream, being the lightest, 
rises to the top, and the remainder, soon becoming sour, 
will be resolved into a solid coagulum, called curd, and 
a limpid fluid, which is whey. The separation of the 
curd from the whey may be produced artificially, by an 
acid ; or by means of rennet, which is an infusion of the 

16 S. A. 



182 THE DOMESTIC ARTS. 

inner coat of a calPs stomach : the effect being due, in 
the latter case, to the gastric juice of the stomach. This 
is the course taken in making cheese. In order to make 
the best cheese, milk, which has stood a sufficient time, 
but has not been deprived of its cream, is heated very 
gradually, till it reaches the temperature at w^hich it 
curdles ; the rennet is then added ; the curd is cut into 
small slices, and the whey gently removed, by suspend- 
ing the whole mass in a bag. In this way, the cream 
is retained, and the flavor and richness of the cheese 
much improved. If the coagulation takes place sud- 
denly, owing to too much heat, and the whey is speed- 
ily removed, most of the cream is carried off, and the 
cheese is poor, and without flavor. To make poor 
cheese is easy ; but to make good cheese is altogether 
the most difficult operation which devolves on the house- 
wife. It requires a proper regulation of the tempera- 
ture of a dairy, since too much heat causes the milk to 
sour, and too little interferes with the process of curd- 
ling. It requires, also, the selection of proper utensils, 
and the most scrupulous care in cleansing them. The 
acid contained in milk (and which is now known to !:" 
acetic acid) will act upon copper, brass, or lead, and 
even upon earthen vessels, if they have been glazed 
with lead, producing a poisonous compound. Hence, 
vessels made of these materials should never be used for 
holding milk. Even tin is not unobjectionable, since it 
is apt to combine, in a slight degree, with this acid, and 
thus a compound is formed, which adheres so closely 
to the vessel, that it can be removed only by the most 
careful washing, and which emits a disagreeable, fetid 
odor. In addition to this, the greatest care must be 
used, in heating and curdling the milk, so that it do 
not take place too suddenly ; that the cream be retain- 
ed, and yet that the whey be entirely expressed. The 
constant and unremitting attention requisite, in making 
cheese, is thus described by Sir John Sinclair, the emi- 
nent agriculturist. " If," says he, " a few spoonfuls of 
milk are left in the udder of the cow, at milking ; if any 



MANAGEMENT OF MILK. 183 

one of the implements used in the dairy be allowed to 
be tainted, by neglect ; if the dairyhouse be kept dirty, 
or out of order ; if the milk is either too hot or too cold 
at coagulating ; if too much or too little rennet is put 
into the milk ; if the whey is not speedily taken oft'; — 
the milk will be in a great measure spoiled. If these 
nice operations," continues he, ^^ occurred only once a 
month, or once a week, they might be easily guarded 
against ; but as they require to be observed during every 
stage of the process, and almost every hour of the day, 
the most vigilant attention must be kept up, through 
the whole season." Another author remarks, that 
'' cheese varies in quality, according as it has been made 
of milk of one meal, of two meals, or of skimmed milk ; 
and that the season of the year, the method of milking, 
the preparation of the rennet, the mode of coagulation, 
the management of the cheese in the press, the method 
of salting, and the management of the cheese-room,- are 
all objects of the highest importance to the cheese-man- 
ufacturer; and yet, notwithstanding this, the practice, 
in most respects, is still regulated by little else than 
mere chance, or custom, without the aid of enlightened 
observation, or of well-conducted experiment." 

The cream, which rises to the top of milk, consists 
of butter ; caseous matter, which is the basis of cheese ; 
and whey. If cream be put into a sack, and suspend- 
ed, so that the whey may run off", the remainder will 
be cream cheese. If it be put into a vessel, and agitat- 
ed, the butter assumes a solid form, and may be entire- 
ly separated from the whey and caseous matter by wash- 
ing and kneading it. Whether the butter naturally ex- 
ists in the cream or milk, and is distributed through it by 
means of mechanical suspension ; or whether it is form- 
ed from it, during the process of churning, by certain 
chemical changes, which then occur, is not well known. 
The latter seems the most probable opinion. That 
churning is attended by important chemical changes 
is certain. In all cases, considerable gas is extricated 
which is supposed to be carbonic acid gas. Oxygen 



184 THE DOMESTIC ARTS. 

also seems to be absorbed, and to this is probably ow- 
ing the consistence of butter ; since the oils are found to 
thicken, by exposure to oxygen. If these two changes 
do take place, they may serve to explain the fact, which 
is well known to butter-makers, namely, that butter is 
made much better and quicker, from cream slightly 
acid, than from that which is sweet ; and that still the 
butter will be sweet, and the whey or buttermilk much 
less sour than the cream had been. The carbonic acid, 
which produces the acidity, escapes during the churn- 
ing. 

To make good butter requires constant care and clean- 
liness. The milk should be kept not only in a clean 
and well-aired apartment, but in one, also, in which the 
temperature is regulated. Too much heat sours the 
milk before the cream forms ; and too little prevents it 
from forming in proper quantities, and imparts to it a 
bitter and disagreable taste. Churning, too, is a deli- 
cate process. It must always take place in about the 
same temperature, and hence the practice, which seems 
at first view inconsistent, of cooling the cream in Sum- 
mer, during the churning, and warming it in Winter. 
The agitation, too, of the cream, should be kept up, 
without interruption, otherwise the butter will go back, 
as it is called, and it must not be too quick and violent, 
for fear of imparting a disagreeable flavor to the butter. 
We need say nothing of the care requisite in working 
off the whey and caseous matter, applying salt, packing 
down, &c. It may not be amiss to remark, that " it is 
ascertained, by observation, that the milk, given by an 
animal during the latter half of the milking process, 
yields much more cream, than that which is obtained 
at first ; and also that the cream, which first rises after 
the milk has been deposited in the dairy-pans, is both 
much greater, in a given space of time, than that which 
rises in an equal space several hours after, and of a 
greatly superior quality ; that thick milk throws up less 
cream than thin, but of a richer quality ; and that milk, 
that has been much agitated by carrying, and cooled 



PRESERVING OF FOOD. 185 

before it is put into the milkpans, never throws up so 
much cream as that which is immediately deposited in 
them after milking. It is also known, that the milk is 
not the best, till about four months after the cow has 
calved ; and that the degree of heat, most favorable to 
the production of cream from milk, is from fifty to fifty- 
five degrees Fahrenheit." 

4. The preserving of Food, — All vegetable and an- 
imal substances are hable to decay. This is owing to 
certain affinities which the difierent principles, compos- 
ing these substances, have for each other and for sur- 
rounding bodies, stronger than those which had previ- 
ously united them, and which inclines them, as soon as 
the living principle is extinct, to decompose and form 
new compounds. Thus, the carbon and hydrogen, which 
are found in all organized bodies, tend to appropriate 
to themselves so much oxygen, as shall convert them 
into carbonic acid and water. In the case of animal 
bodies, this tendency to decomposition is stronger than in 
vegetables, since, in addition to the three principles just 
named, which they have in common with all vegetables, 
they contain nitrogen, or azote, an element not found in 
most plants, and which has a strong affinity for all the 
above principles, especially for hydrogen. 

This disposition to decay, though it exists from the 
moment that the vital principle is extinct, will not so 
soon manifest itself, without the aid oi moist tire, air, and 
a certain temperature. It is well known, in the first 
place, that substances kept in moist situations putrefy 
much sooner than in those which are dry. The water 
probably acts, by softening the texture ; and thus coun- 
teracting the agency of cohesion, which tends to keep 
the substance in its original state : a part of the effect 
may be owing, also, to the affinity of the water for some 
of the products of the putrefaction. Hence the import- 
ance of excluding all substances, which we would pre- 
serve, from moisture. Meat, thoroughly dried, may be 
kept a very long time. So may fruit, if carefully freed 
from all moisture, and kept in a dry apartment, or 
16* 



186 THE DOMESTIC ARTS. 

packed in some substance which will absorb the mois- 
ture that may chance to collect, or exposed to a uni- 
form heat, sufficient to expel the watery particles. 

Air contributes to putrefaction, by uniting its oxy- 
gen with the carbon and hydrogen of the decaying sub- 
stance. Hence, if we would preserve food, for a great 
length of time, we must endeavor to exclude the air, 
also. This is done, in the case of fruit, by putting it 
in bottles, from which the air had been previously ex- 
pelled, by heat, and then sealing them up, air-tight. 
Another method has been brought into notice recently, 
called, ApperVs process. The articles to be preserved 
are enclosed in bottles, which are filled to the top with 
any liquid ; for example, with the water in which the 
article, if solid, has been boiled. The bottles are close- 
ly corked and cemented, to render them hermetically 
tight. They are then placed in kettles filled with cold 
water, and subjected to heat, till the water boils. Af- 
ter the boiling temperature has been kept up, for a 
considerable time, — in some cases an hour, but varying 
with the character of the articles to be preserved, — the 
bottles are suffered gradually to cool. In this state, 
meats, vegetables, fruits, milk, and other substances, are 
preserved, perfectly fresh, without any condiments, for 
long periods of time ; in some instances, for the space 
of six years. Instead of bottles, tin canisters are some- 
times used, and rendered tight by soldering. The re- 
markable effect of this process is to be attributed, not 
altogether, perhaps, to the exclusion of atmospheric air, 
since some will remain in the liquid and other substan- 
ces ; but in part, also, to the influence which the heat 
has had, in fixing the small portion of atmospheric oxy- 
gen, that is present, by combining it with some principle 
in the other substances, so that it is no longer capable 
of exciting the fermentative action, which, in parallel 
cases, leads to decomposition. 

The influence of certain temperatures, in promoting 
decay, is well known. In warm seasons and in hot cli- 
mates, every thing tends to corruption. The heat acts, 



TEMPERATURE. ANTISEPTICS. 187 

perhaps, by tending to separate, from one another, ele- 
ments which are already combined. The temperature 
most favorable to putrefaction is between sixty and one 
hundred degrees. A strong heat is unfavorable, by 
expelling moisture ; and a cold of thirty-two degrees, 
or the temperature at which water freezes, arrests its 
progress altogether. Bodies of men and animals have 
been found frozen, in situations where they had remain- 
ed for years, and even ages ; and the recent discovery 
of an elephant in the ice of Siberia, a country in which 
this animal could have lived only at some era anterior 
to our history, shows that the period of this preservation 
is unlimited. Hence the utility of ice, in preserving ali- 
mentary substances in hot weather. In order to have 
its proper effect, it should be placed, with the substances 
to be preserved, in some vessel which will not give ad- 
mission to the heat. Such vessels are made of two lin- 
ings ; the space between the hnings being filled with char- 
coal, dry air, or some other non-conducting substance. 
In addition to these methods of guarding against 
putrefaction, important service is rendered by a class 
of substances called antiseptics, from the powder which 
they have of resisting decay. Of this class are sugar, 
alcohol, oils, acids, and salts of various kinds. How 
they exert this influence is not well understood. It 
appears, however, that, in some cases, they combine 
with the substance to be preserved, — forming a less 
perishable compound, and probably, in other instances, 
they unite with and qualify the decomposing agents 
which are present. The influence of sugar, in a dry 
state, and in the form of syrup ; of vinegar, and pyro- 
ligneous acid ; of common salt, and alcohol ; in pre- 
venting decay, is familiar to all persons. 

In the domestic as in other arts, improvements have 
been made, which have added essentially to human 
enjoyment. If we compare the food used at present 
with that consumed three centuries ago, by the labor- 
er, or even by the gentleman, we shall be amazed at 



188 THE DOMESTIC ARTS. 

the changes for the better which have taken place, both 
in the variety and quaUty. At that time, the garden 
vegetables, now used almost universally, and forming 
an important part of the food of every class, — such, for 
example, as potatoes, beets, radishes, lettuce, — were yet 
hardly introduced into England, and could be found on 
the tables only of the most luxurious. The diet of the 
peasants, throughout Europe, is thus described by For- 
tescue, who lived in the reign of Henry the Sixth, of 
England : " They drink water ; they eate apples, with 
bread right browne, made of rye ; they eate no flesche, 
but, if it be selden, a httell larde, or of the entrails or 
heds of beastes sclayne for the nobles or marchauntes 
of the lond." The rich had animal food, in abundance ; 
but few of the other luxuries which load a modern ta- 
ble. Not to refer, however, to periods so remote, we 
shall find evidence of most striking changes, if we re- 
vert merely to the commencement of the reign of 
George the Third. At that time, barley, rye, or oaten 
bread, was the universal food of the working popula- 
tion in England. As late as the year 1764, the quan- 
tity of barley grain, in England, was equal to that of 
wheat ; it is not now more than one third of it, though 
the proportion converted into malt has been increased. 
Sir Frederick Morton Eden says, " About fifty years 
ago, so little was the quantity of wheat used in the 
county of Cumberland, that it was only a rich family 
that used a peck of wheat in the course of the year ; 
and that was used at Christmas." At that period, even 
in the richest counties, barley-bread formed the univer- 
sal food, not only of the common laborers, but also of 
the smaller farmers. Whereas, now, wheaten bread is 
eaten, almost universally, even in Wales, and the poor- 
est districts. The consumption of butchers' meat, but- 
ter, cheese, &c., has increased in a ratio nearly double 
of that at which population has advanced ; and the 
same may be said of tea and sugar, those admirable 
substitutes for fermented and spirituous liquors.^ 
* See Appendix, VI. 



ARTS OF WORKING METALS. 189 



CHAPTER IX. 



ARTS OF WORKING METALS. 



Under this title, we shall include all the methods 
adopted in the arts, I. For obtaining metals from their 
ores, and, 11. For forming them into articles of lux- 
ury or use. 

These arts present, to the reflecting mind, a subject 
of great and increasing interest. In the civilization of 
mankind, the metals exert a most important influence. 
Scarcely a comfort is introduced into our habitations, 
scarcely an improvement is made in the mechanical 
or chemical arts, without their aid. To this class of 
substances the husbandman, the carpenter, the smith, 
the housewife, and the manufacturer, are indebted, for 
nearly all their implements. The precious metals not 
only affbrd us jewelry and plate, but form the basis of 
our currency. Those of less value are wrought into 
vessels of every description, for household and manu- 
facturing purposes ; or furnish us with tools, furniture, 
and ornaments. And even that mineral, which, in its 
natural state, seems of all the least valuable, namely, 
iron, — what a value has been impressed upon it, by the 
power of Art ! What would be our civilization, with- 
out iron ? Who could cultivate the earth, or navigate 
the sea, or lay out and travel roads, or weave cloth, or 
build houses, or construct machinery, without this sub- 
stance ?* 

An art so important to mankind, must soon have 
commanded their attention, and been carried to some 
degree of perfection. Hence we read, before the Flood, 
of Tubal-Cain, who was an instructor of every artificer 
in brass and iron. What was the effect of that great 
catastrophe, on the useful arts, is unknown. Some inti- 
mations are gathered, from the ancient poets and his- 

* See Appendix, VII. 



190 ARTS OF WORKING METALS. 

torians, which would lead us to infer, that the art of 
working metals, though not unknown, was extremely 
limited. This remark applies particularly to iron, 
which is extracted from the ore with more difficulty 
than most other metallic substances. Barbarous and 
semi-civilized nations are found, who have been able to 
extract the more precious metals, but have never ob- 
tained iron. The estimation in which such a people 
hold this substance, and the eagerness with which, when 
a ship arrives, they inquire for it, might convey a use- 
ful lesson to those who are accustomed to regard it as 
of litde value. The art of working iron was probably 
introduced into Britain by Juhus Caesar. A spot is 
now pointed out to the traveller, where a furnace was 
worked for six or seven centuries, and the rude state 
of the art, at that period, is inferred from the fact, that 
the mass of cinders accumulated, during so long a time, 
is not greater than would collect around some modern 
furnaces in a few months. The improvements which 
have been made consist chiefly in the introduction of 
machinery, and in the more skilful use of chemical 
agents. It will be our object, in this Chapter, to de- 
scribe the several processes through which metals pass, 
on their way from the mine to the hands of those for 
whose use they are ultimately destined. These may 
be arranged under the following heads : I. Mining. 
II. Dressing ores. III. Reducing ores. IV. Work- 
ing up the pure metals. It is obvious, that these 
processes must vary, according to the nature of the 
metal, and the use to which it is to be applied. We 
shall confine our explanations principally to those meth- 
ods which are common to all the metals ; and even 
here, we can hope to exhibit only a very imperfect 
sketch of an operation, which is often complicated and 
extremely delicate. 

I. Mining. — Metals are rarely found in what is 
called their native state, that is, uncombined with oth- 
er substances. Having a strong affinity for various sim- 
ple bodies, such as oxygen, sulphur, arsenic, and other 



MINING. 191 

metals, they generally occur in combination with one 
or more of these, and are then said to be mineralized. 
But besides these substances, with which they unite, 
chemically, and which serve, in some measure, to dis- 
guise their metalhc properties, they are intermixed, 
mechanically, with various earths, which are termed 
their gangues, or matrices. The state in which they 
are found by the miner, and the manner in which he 
prosecutes his labors, may be gathered from the fol- 
lowing description of the mines in Cornwall, England. 
An irregular crevice in the rock generally indicates 
the place where the metal is deposited. Instead of be- 
ing collected at one point, it is scattered in veins and 
branches, so that it is impossible to say, beforehand, 
at what particular points the riches of the mine exist. 
Hence the necessity of proceeding on some fixed plan, in 
order to explore it, and put it into a state capable of 
being worked by a number of men. To effect this, a 
perpendicular pit, or shaft, is sunk, at a depth of about 
sixty feet ; a horizontal gallery, or level, is cut in the 
earth, say both towards the east and towards the west, 
the ore and materials being raised, at first, by a com- 
mon windlass. As soon as the two sets of miners have 
each cut or driven the level about a hundred yards, 
they find it impossible to proceed, for want of air. 
This being anticipated, two other sets of miners have 
been sinking, from the surface, two other perpendicular 
shafts, to meet them. From these, the ores and mate- 
rials may be raised ; and it is evident, that, by thus 
sinking perpendicular shafts, a hundred yards from each 
other, the first gallery or level may be prolonged at 
pleasure. But while this horizontal work is carrying 
on, the original, or, as it is termed, the engine shaft, is 
sunk deeper ; and, at a second depth of sixty feet, a 
second horizontal gallery, or level, is driven towards the 
east and towards the west, receiving air from the various 
perpendicular shafts, which are all successively sunk 
down, so as to meet it. The main shaft is then sunk 
further ; and, at the same distance, is driven a third, and 



192 THE ARTS OF WORKING METALS. 

then a fourth, gallery, and so on. to any depth. The 
lowest level, in one of the Cornish mines, is said to be 
nearly one thousand feet below the level of the ocean. 
These galleries are excavated, not so much for the sake 
of the ore which they yield, directly, as to enable a num- 
ber of men to work together, in the subsequent opera- 
tions. The ore and other materials are raised to the sur- 
face by steam, or by large capstans, worked by horses. 
Similar means are also used, in order to drain the 
mine of the water, which often accumulates, except 
w^here it is found easier to tap the hill, and thus dis- 
charge the water by drains. 

Another important circumstance, in opening a mine, 
is, to prepare a proper support for the earth, which rests 
over the galleries. This is effected, in part, by the 
form which is given to the galleries ; but more com- 
monly, by leaving pillars of stone in their natural place, 
and providing artificial props, of timber, stones, and 
masonry. 

II. The ores, having been raised to the surface, are 
in the next place dressed ; that is, prepared for smelt- 
ing. This includes the various operations of sorting, 
stamping, icashing. and roasting. The first three 
are mechanical operations ; the fourth is chemical, 
Soi^ting consists merely in the separation of the dif- 
erent pieces of ore into lots, according to the prod- 
ucts they are expected to afford, and the treatment 
they are likely to require. After the ore is sorted, it is 
carried to the stampei% or stamping- mill, which con- 
sists either of hammers or iron cylinders driven up and 
down, and which serves to break up the ore, together 
with its gangue, into a coarse powder. To this, succeeds 
the ivashing of the powdered ore, in troughs or in- 
clined planes, crossed by a current of water, the heavi- 
er ore remaining, while the lighter, earthy, and stony, 
substances are carried away by the water. The ore is 
then roasted, in order to drive off the sulphur, arsenic, 
and other volatile parts, which may happen to be com- 
bined with it, and also to oxidize any metals which 



I 



REDUCING ORES. 193 

may not be volatile. It is proper to remark, that some 
ores do not require all these operations ; copper ore, 
for example, is not stamped, but is broken into small 
fragments by the hammer. In other cases, roasting is 
unnecessary. 

III. Having been thus prepared or dressed, the 
ores are in the next place reduced or purified. The 
object of this is to separate them from any other ingre- 
dients, with which they may be combined, and to drive 
off the oxygen, imbibed in washing, or which is natu- 
rally present. This reduction is effected by fusing 
them with charcoal and a substance called a flux, which 
may be lime, fluor-spar, borax, or one of the earthy or 
metallic oxides. The charcoal attracts the oxygen to 
itself, and the lime unites with the earthy and sihcious 
substances, forming a sort of glass, so that the metal 
melts, and falls to the bottom, in a pure state. This is 
called smelting. In other cases, as in reducing gold 
and silver, amalgamation is used ; that is, the ore, 
after being pounded and washed, is combined with 
quicksilver, by which an alloy or amalgam is formed. 
This, after removing the more earthy parts, is enclosed 
in leather, and subjected to pressure, by means of 
which, the more liquid parts are forced through the 
leather, while the residuum, containing the greater part 
of the gold, remains. It is then subjected to distilla- 
tion, in order to separate the quicksilver. In other 
cases, the metal is purified, by liquefying it with some 
other metal, of different specific gravity, or is subjected 
to the action of acids, or to other processes, according 
to the nature of the metal, and also of the substances 
with which it is found combined. 

It may be proper, under this head, to say something 
of assaying, alloys, and solders. Assaying is the 
process of analyzing ores, in small quantities, to ascer- 
tain the proportion of pure metal which they contain. 
It is effected by taking equal portions of the poorest, 
richest, and medium, ores, putting them together, and 
purifying them, in the manner already mentioned, which 

17 S. A. 



194 THE ARTS OF WORKING METALS. 

will yield a metal, more or less simple. If compound, 
this metal is further analyzed, by the use of acids and 
of alkalies, by distillation, amalgamation, &c. 

Alloys are compounds, formed by fusing two or 
more metals together. They are extensively used in 
the arts, because they are cheaper, harder, and more 
durable, than the pure metal. The most common al- 
loys are plate and coins, which consist of gold or sil- 
ver, alloyed with copper ; pewter, which is lead, alloy- 
ed with tin ; brass, pinchbeck, and tombac, which are 
composed of copper, alloyed, in different proportions, 
with zinc ; bronze, composed of copper, zinc, and tin ; 
and the metal of which prinfer'^ types are made, being 
an alloy of lead, copper, tin, and antimony. Another im- 
portant use of alloys is, in the application of tin (a very 
fusible metal) to the surface of iron and copper vessels, 
to form a coat, and thus prevent them from rusting. 

Solders are either simple metals or alloys, which 
are used to cement metallic joints, or fractures. Their 
value, like that of tin, depends upon the fact, that they 
melt at a temperature much lower than the metals 
which they are employed to join. 

IV. The metal, having been thus brought into the 
proper state for making useful implements, is worked 
up, according to its nature, by casting, or by hammer- 
ing. In casting, the metal is fused and poured into 
moulds, of the requisite shape, where it is allowed to 
cool. In this way, our stoves, kettles, cannon-ball, 
&c., are cast. In the other case, the metal is heated 
to a red or white heat, by which it becomes more mal- 
leable, and is then brought into the requisite form, by 
hammering, grinding, &c. We cannot do better 
than to take a single metal, and describe the various 
processes to which it is subjected. We select Iron, 
since it is the metal which, of all others, combines, in 
the greatest degree, cheapness with ductihty, fusibility, 
and strength, and which is therefore more extensively 
used than any other metal. An iron wire can be easi- 
ly bent or drawn out, and will at the same time sus- 



WORKING OF IRON. 195 

tain nearly twice as much weight as any other metal- 
lic wire of the same diameter. 

As iron comes from the smelting furnace, it is in 
masses called pigs, and is cast iron. The principal 
changes through which it passes are, 1. Puddling and 
rolling, the effect of which is to burn away or squeeze 
out any foreign substances, which the metal may con- 
tain, and, by rendering it more malleable, convert it 
into wrought iron. 2. Case-hardening, which con- 
verts the surface of wrought iron into steel, by im- 
mersing it in cast iron, while in a state of fusion. 3. 
Cementation, which converts iron into steel, by heat- 
ing bars of the purest iron, in contact with charcoal, 
by which means carbon will be absorbed, and the 
weight of the metal increased, while, at the same time, 
it acquires a blistered surface. In this state, we call 
it blistered steel ; when drawn down into smaller bars, 
and beaten, it forms tilted steel ; and this, broken iip, 
heated, welded, and again drawn out into bars, forms 
shear steel, 4. Tempering, which, by heating steel, 
gradually, to a certain temperature, deprives it of that 
hardness and brittleness which renders it unfit for prac- 
tical purposes. These processes, however, will be ren- 
dered more intelligible, by the following description of 
the changes through which a piece of iron passes, in 
order to become a knife-blade, which we take from a 
very entertaining and instructive little work, called, 
' The results of Machinery. ' '' The man who has a 
lump of iron ore, " says the author, '' has certainly a 
knife in the heart of it ; but no mere labor can work it 
out. Shape it as you may, it is not a knife, or steel, or 
even iron, — it is iron ore ; and, dress it as you will, it 
would not cut better than a brickbat, certainly not so 
well as the shell or bone of the savage. 

'^ There, must be knowledge, before any thing can be 
done in this case. We must know what is mixed with 
the iron, and how to separate it. We cannot do it by 
mere labor, as we can chip away the wood, and get 
out the bowl ) and therefore we have recourse to fire. 



196 THE ARTS OF WORKING METALS. 

^' In the ordinary mode of using it, fire would make 
matters worse. If we put the material into the fire, as 
a stone, we should probably receive it back, as slag or 
dross. We must therefore prepare our fuel. Our 
fire must be hot, very hot ; but if our fuel be wood, we 
must burn it into charcoal, or, if it be coal, into coke. 

" The charcoal or coke answers for one purpose ; 
but we have still the clay or other earth mixed with 
our iron, — and how are we to get rid of that ? Pure 
clay, or pure lime, or pure earth of flint, remains stub- 
born in our hottest fires ; but when they are mixed, in 
a proper proportion, the one melts the other. 

'' So charcoal or coke, and ironstone or iron ore, 
and limestone, are put into a furnace ; the charcoal or 
coke is lighted at the bottom, and wind is blown into 
the furnace, at the bottom, also. If that wind is not 
sent in by machinery, and very powerful machinery, 
too, the effect will be little, and the work of man great ; 
but still it can be done. 

'^ In this furnace, the lime and clay, or earth of flint, 
unite, and form a sort of glass, which floats upon the 
surface. At the same time, the carbon, or pure char- 
coal, of the fuel, with the assistance of the limestone, 
mixes with the stone, or ore, and melts the iron, which, 
being heavier than the other matters, runs down to the 
bottom of the furnace, and remains there till the work- 
man lets it out by a hole, made at the bottom of the 
furnace for that purpose, and plugged with sand. When 
the workman knows there is enough melted, or when 
the appointed time arrives, he displaces the plug of sand 
with an iron rod, and the melted iron runs out like wa- 
ter, and is conveyed into furrows made in sand, where 
it cools, and the pieces formed in the principal furrows 
are called ' sows,' and those in the furrows branching 
from them, ' pigs.' A single furnace will in this way 
make seventy-five tons of iron, in a week ; or as much 
iron, in the year, as will make the blades of about one 
hundred and forty millions of knives, at an ounce to 
each blade. 



WORKING OF IRON. 197 

'^ But great as is the advantage of this first step of 
the iron-making, the iron is not yet fit for a knife. It 
is cast iron. It cannot be worked by the hammer, or 
sharpened to a cutting edge ; and so it must be made 
into malleable iron, a kind of iron, which, instead of 
melting in the fire, will soften, and admit of being ham- 
mered into shape, or united by the process of welding. 

^^ The methods, by which this is accomplished, vary ; 
but they in general consist in keeping the iron melted 
in a furnace, and stirring it with an iron rake, till the 
blast of air in the furnace burns the greater part of the 
carbon out of it. By this means, it becomes tough ; 
and, without cooling, is taken from the furnace and re- 
peatedly beaten by large hammers, or squeezed through 
large rollers, until it becomes the bar iron, of which so 
much use is made, in every art of life. 

" Bringing it into this state requires great force ; and 
the unaided strength of all the men in Britain could not 
make all the iron which is at present made, though they 
did nothing else. Machinery is therefore resorted to ; 
and water-wheels, steam-engines, and all sorts of pow- 
ers, are set to work, in moving hammers, turning roll- 
ers, and drawing rods and wires through holes, till every 
workman can have the particular form which he wants. 
If it were not for the machinery that is employed in 
the manufacture, no man could obtain a spade for less 
than the price of a year's labor ; the yokes of a horse 
would cost more than the horse himself; and the farm- 
er would have to return to wooden ploughshares, and 
hoes made of sticks with crooked ends. There would 
be labor enough, then, as we have already shown : but 
the people could not live upon the labor only ; they 
must have profitable labor. 

^' After all this, the iron is not yet fit for a knife, — at 
least for such a knife as an Englishman may buy for a 
shilling. Many nations would, however, be thankful 
for a little bit of it, and nations, too, in whose countries 
there is no want of iron ore. But they have no know- 
ledge of the method of making iron, and have no fur- 
17# 



198 THE ARTS OF WORKING METALS. 

naces or machinery. When our ships sail among the 
people of the Eastern islands, those people do not ask 
for gold. ' Iron, iron !' is the call ; and he, who can 
exchange his best commodity for a rusty nail, or a bit 
of iron hoop, is a fortunate individual. 

^' We are not satisfied with that, in the best form, 
which is a treasure to those people, in the worst. We 
must have a knife, not of iron, but of steel, a substance 
that will bear a keen edge, without either breaking or 
bending. In order to get that, we must again change 
the nature of our material. 

" How is that to be done ? The oftener that iron is 
heated and hammered, the softer and more ductile it 
becomes ; and as the heating and hammering forced 
the carbon out of it, if we give it the carbon back again, 
we shall harden it ; but it happens that we also give it 
other properties, by restoring its carbon, when the iron 
has once been in a ductile state. 

^^ For this purpose, bars or pieces of iron are buried 
in powdered charcoal, covered up in a vessel, and kept 
at a red heat for a greater or less number of hours, ac- 
cording to the object desired. There are niceties in 
the process, which it is not necessary to explain, that 
produce the peculiar quality of steel, as distinguished 
from cast iron. If the operation of heating the iron in 
charcoal is continued too long, or the heat is too great, 
the iron becomes cast steel, and cannot be welded ; but 
if it is not melted in the operation, it can be worked 
with the hammer, in the same manner as iron. 

'' In each case, however, it has acquired the property 
upon which the keenness of the knife depends ; and 
the chief difference, between the cast steel and the steel 
that can bear to be hammered, is, that cast steel takes 
a keener edge, but is more easily broken. 

'' The property which it has acquired is that of bear- 
ing to be tempered. If it be made very hot, and plung- 
ed into cold water, and kept there till it is quite cooled, 
it is so hard that it will cut iron, but it is brittle. In 
this state, the workman brightens the surface, and lays 



THE MANUFACTURE OF GLASS. 199 

the steel upon a piece of hot iron, and holds it to the 
fire till it becomes of a color which he knows from ex- 
perience is a test of the proper state of the process. 
Then he plunges it again into water, and it has the de- 
gree of hardness that he wants. 

" The grinding a knife, and the poHshing it, even 
when it has acquired the requisite properties of steel, 
if they were not done by machinery, would cost more 
than the whole price of a knife, upon which machinery 
is used. A travelHng knifegrinder, with his treadle 
and wheels, has a machine, but not a very perfect one. 
The Sheffield knifemaker grinds the knife, at first, up- 
on wheels of immense size, turned by water or steam, 
and moving so quickly, that they appear to stand still ; 
the eye cannot follow the motion. With these aids, 
the original grinding and polishing cost scarcely any 
thing; while the travelling knifegrinder charges two- 
pence for the labor of himself and his wheel, in just 
sharpening it. 

" As iron is with us almost as plentiful as stone, we 
do not think much about it. But there is a great deal 
to be done, much thinking and inventing, before so 
simple a thing as a shilling knife could be procured ; 
and without the thinking and the inventing, all the 
strength of all the men that ever lived never could pro- 
cure it ; and without the machinery to lighten the la- 
bor, no ingenuity could furnish it at a thousand times 
the expense." 



CHAPTER X. 

THE MANUFACTURE OF GLASS. 

The metals aflbrd a striking instance of the power 
of human ingenuity and labor, in imparting value to 
substances, which, in their natural state, are worthless. 
This appears still more conspicuously in the case of 
glass and pottery. The ores, from which metals are 



200 THE MANUFACTURE OF GLASS. 

extracted, are frequently scarce, and can only be ob- 
tained at an immense expense of labor and time. The 
materials, of which glass and pottery are formed, exist, 
in abundance, near the surface of the earth, and in 
almost every neighborhood. Glass is composed of 
silicious sand or pounded flint, mixed with potash or 
soda ; which latter materials are readily obtained by 
burning vegetable substances. Pottery is a species of 
brick ; and, hke it, is formed of clay, kneaded together, 
then moulded into the requisite forms, and hardened by 
heat. 

The value of these substances, which are thus cre- 
ated from the most worthless materials, must be obvi- 
ous to every one. They are equally important to sci- 
ence and the arts, and in domestic life. Take glass, 
for example. Without it, the astronomer would be 
unable to construct those instruments, with which he 
traces the movements, and counts the number, of the 
stars. The naturalist would be prevented from explor- 
ing the minute recesses of plants, and animals, and 
unorganized matter, by which means he ascertains their 
structure, and brings to light the myriads of animated 
beings with which they are peopled. Age and in- 
firmity would be destitute of the means for repairing 
defects of vision, and thus be deprived of the innumer- 
able benefits and pleasures which it was intended to 
aflford. Our habitations, instead of being irradiated 
with the clear Hght of day, would enjoy only the faint 
beams which could find their way through oiled paper, 
horn, or mica. The druggist would no longer be able 
to examine his medicines, nor the chemist his experi- 
ments, through the sides of transparent vessels. Mir- 
rors to reflect the person would not now be found in 
every cottage, but would be a luxury known only in 
the palace, or the mansion of the rich ; and, instead of 
drinking-glasses and decanters, which now ornament 
every table, at a trifling expense, we should have to 
content ourselves with drinking-cups of tin or pewter, 
and jugs of stone. 



MIXING THE MATERIALS. 201 

The art of making glass was probably first suggested 
by the sight of native crystal. It is certainly ancient, 
but was probably confined, among the Oriental nations, 
as well as by the Greeks and Romans, to the manufac- 
ture of ornaments and utensils. Its use in windows, 
and, what is hardly less important, in optical instru- 
ments, is a modern invention."^ At what time glass 
was first introduced into the windows of churches is 
not absolutely known ; but probably not before the 
third or fourth century. In the windows of private 
dweUings it was very sparingly employed, till the seven- 
teenth century ; and a hundred years have not elapsed, 
since many houses in England and our own Coun- 
try were without windows, or lighted only through oil- 
ed paper, horn, &c. At present, owing to chemical 
knowledge and greater division of labor, the art is so per- 
fect, that glass vessels and windows can be afforded by 
the humblest individuals. We propose, in this Chap- 
ter, briefly to explain the several processes employed 
in making glass, referring the reader, for a more detail- 
ed account, to ' Bigelow's Technology, ^j- from which 
much of the matter of this Chapter is abridged. 

Glass. — 1. Glass, as we have already said, is com- 
posed of flint, fused with some alkaline substance. 
The flint is found in the sand of certain situations, or 
is obtained by heating common flints or quartz, red 
hot, and then plunging them into cold water. They 
turn white, fall to pieces, and are then pounded and 
sifted, before being mixed with the alkali. Pure silic- 
ious sand, however, is to be preferred, since it is al- 
ready pulverized ; and it may be found in several lo- 



* Glass windows are said to have been discovered in the buildings 
at Pompeii, formed of glass which must have been blown. 

t Since the above was written, Dr. Bigelow's work, above allud- 
ed to, has been revised by the author, and, with many additions and 
alterations, republished as a part of' The School Library,' (of 
which it forms volumes xi. and xii. of the larger series,) with the 
title, * The Useful Arts considered in connexion with the Applications 
of Science.' 



202 THE MANUFACTURE OF GLASS. 

calities, among which, in this country, the banks of the 
Delaware are the most noted. With this siUcious sub- 
stance, which is the basis of glass, we mix potash or 
soda ; and, if the glass be coarse, alkaline ashes of any 
kind, such as kelp, barilla, &c. To these are added, 
in many instances, small quantities of lime and borax, 
to render the materials more fusible ; and also, in some 
cases, some metallic oxide, which is used to increase the 
transparency and whiteness of the glass, or to impart 
to it a peculiar color. 

2. Having mixed these materials carefully together, 
we proceed to apply heat. This, in the first instance, 
must not be sufficient to fuse the materials ; otherwise, 
the alkali will be driven off, before it can be combined 
with the silica. At this stage, heat is used merely to 
expel the carbonic acid, and other gaseous and volatile 
matters, which would otherwise prove troublesome, by 
causing the materials to swell up while fusing. It is 
gradually increased, and the materials constantly stir- 
red, for some hours, until they unite into a soft adhe- 
sive mass. The alkali having gradually combined with 
the silicious earth, the homogeneous mass, thus formed, 
is called frit^ and the process by which it is procured, 
fritting. The frit is now placed in a crucible, made 
of the most refractory clays and sand, and deposited 
in the melting furnace. A quantity of old glass is 
commonly placed upon the top of the frit, and the heat 
of the furnace is raised to its greatest height, at which 
state it is continued thirty or forty hours. During this 
period, the materials become perfectly united, and form 
a transparent uniform mass, free from specks and bub- 
ble. The whole is then suffered to cool a httle, by 
slackening the heat of the furnace, until it acquires 
sufficient tenacity to be wrought. 

3. Glass is wrought by blowings castings and mould- 
ing. Blowing is one of the most interesting opera- 
tions connected with this manufacture. The workman 
is provided with a long iron tube, one end of which he 
thrusts into the melted glass, turning it round until a 



BLOWING, CASTING, AND MOULDING. 203 

certain quantity, sufficient for the purpose, is gathered, 
or adheres to the extremity. The tube is then with- 
drawn from the furnace, and the lump of glass which 
adheres is rolled upon a smooth iron table, and the 
workman blows strongly with his mouth, through the 
tube, by which the glass is gradually inflated, like a 
bladder. The inflation is assisted by the heat, which 
causes the air and moisture of the breath to expand 
with great power, and enables the workman to give the 
glass any form he may choose. Whenever the glass 
becomes so stiflF, from cooling, as to render the inflation 
difficult, it is again held over the fire, to soften it. If 
window glass is to be formed, the blowing is repeated, 
until the globe is expanded to the requisite thinness. It 
is then received by another workman, upon an iron rod, 
while the blowing-iron is detached. It is now open- 
ed at its extremity ; and, by means of the centrifugal 
force communicated by rapid whirling, it is spread into 
a smooth, uniform sheet, of equal thickness throughout, 
excepting a protuberance at the centre, where the iron 
rod was attached. This protuberance is called a hulVs 
eye ; and being in the centre, no very large squares can 
be obtained from these circular plates. Hence, when 
larger sizes are wanted, it is usual to blow them in the 
form of cylinders, not more than four feet long. When 
plates of still larger dimensions are made, it must be 
eflfected by casting. The glass is melted in great 
quantities, in large pots or reservoirs, until it is in a 
state of perfect fusion, in which condition it is kept for 
a long time. It is then drawn out, by means of iron 
cisterns, of considerable size, which are lowered into 
the furnace, filled, and raised out by machinery. The 
glass is poured out, from these cisterns, upon tables of 
polished copper, of large size, having a rim elevated as 
high as the intended thickness of the plate. In order 
to spread it perfectly, and to make the two surfaces 
parallel, a heavy roller, of polished copper, weighing 
five hundred pounds or more, is passed over the plate, 
resting on the rims, at the edges. The glass, which is 



204 THE MANUFACTURE OF GLASS. 

beginning to grow stiff, is pressed down and spread 
equally, the excess being drawn before the roller, until 
it falls off at the extremity of the table. When orna- 
mental forms are to be impressed upon the surface of 
glass vessels, it is effected by using metallic moulds, 
into which the glass, while in a melted state, is blown, 
until it receives the impression on the outside. This 
process has been essentially improved, by the manu- 
turers of American glass, who, in moulding, subject the 
material to pressure on the inside and outside (at the 
same time) of different parts of a mould, which are 
brought suddenly together by mechanical power. 

4. When, through any of these methods, the glass has 
been brought to the requisite form, it is next subjected 
to the operation called annealing, which consists in 
removing the glass into a furnace, whose heat is not 
sufficiently intense to melt it, and gradually withdraw- 
ing the article from the hottest to a cooler part of the 
annealing chamber, till it is cold enough to be taken 
out for use. This process is indispensable to the dura- 
bility of the glass ; for, if cooled too suddenly, it be- 
comes extremely brittle, and flies to pieces upon the 
least touch of any hard substance. This effect is 
shown in the substance called Ruperfs drops, which 
are made by cooling, suddenly, drops of green glass, 
by letting them fall into cold water. These drops fly 
to pieces, with an explosion, whenever the smaller ex- 
tremities are broken. The Bologna phials, and some 
other vessels of unannealed glass, break into a thousand 
pieces, if a flint, or other hard and angular substance, 
is dropped into them. This phenomenon seems to 
depend upon some permanent and strong inequality 
of pressure ; for, when these drops are heated so red as 
to be soft, and left to cool gradually, the property of 
bursting is lost, and the specific gravity of the drops is 
increased. 

5. To annealing, succeed the processes of grinding 
and cutting. The object of the first is to polish the 
surface of the glass, so as to fit it for mirrors, &c. It 



GRINDING, CUTTING, AND COLORING. 205 

is performed in a manner very similar to that employed 
in polishing marble, except that the glass, being a hard- 
er substance, requires more labor and nicety in the op- 
eration. The plate to be polished is first cemented to 
a table of wood or stone, with plaster of Paris. A 
quantity of wet sand or emery is spread upon it, and 
another glass plate, similarly cemented to another wood- 
en surface, is brought in contact with it. The two 
plates are then rubbed together, until the surfaces have 
become materially smooth and plane. The emery which 
is first used is succeeded by emery of a finer kind, and 
the last polish is given by putty, or the oxide of iron, 
called colcothar. When one surface has become per- 
fectly polished, the cement is removed, the plate turn- 
ed, and the opposite side polished in the same way. 
In some cases, pure flint, reduced to powder, is substi- 
tuted for emery. The advantage of it consists in the 
fact, that the mixture of glass and flint, which is left 
after the operation, is valuable for forming fresh glass. 

Cutting is a species of grinding, by which successive 
portions of glass are ground away, and figures are given 
it, which appear as if made by the incision of a sharp in- 
strument. An establishment for cutting glass contains 
a great number of wheels of stone, metal, and wood, 
which are made to revolve rapidly by a steam-engine, 
or other power. The first, or rough cutting, is some- 
times given by wheels of stone, resembling grindstones. 
Afterwards, wheels of iron are used, having their edges 
covered with sharp sand or emery, in different states 
of fineness. The last polish is given by brush wheels, 
covered with a putty, which is an oxide of tin and lead. 
To prevent the friction from exciting so much heat, as 
to endanger the glass, a small stream of water continu- 
ally drops upon the surface of the wheel. 

6. Coloting, — We have already stated, that the 
beautiful colors imparted to glass beads, enamelling, 
&c., were produced by various metallic oxides, melted 
with the other ingredients, and combining in intimate 
anion with them. Another method of coloring is 
18 s. A. 



206 THE MANUFACTURE OF GLASS. 

termed staining ; and consists in applying some color 
superficially, which vitrifies on being exposed to heat, 
and incorporates with the substance of the glass. This 
art was employed very much by the ancients, in deco- 
rating the windows of churches, and cathedrals. It is 
often described as being no longer known ; but errone- 
ously, since nothing has been lost but the art of commu- 
nicating certain pecuHar colors, which are found in the 
windows of the ancient cathedrals. 

Before dismissing the subject of glass, we may notice 
a combination, which has been invented within the last 
century, and which has proved of inestimable impor- 
tance, in the construction of telescopes. When flint 
glass (that is, a very clear and comparatively soft glass, 
so called, because it was formerly made of pulverized 
flint) is formed into single lenses, for telescopes, it is 
found that the objectglass (that is, the one nearest the 
object) imparts colors to the image formed by light 
passing through it, owing to a difference in the refrangi- 
bility of the rays which compose white light. In this 
way, the vision becomes indistinct, and the inconven- 
ience was so great, as to render the refracting telescope 
nearly useless ; until an English artist, Dollond,^ (who, 
like many English artists, was a man of science, as well 
as practical skill,) discovered a method of obviating it. 
This consists in making the objectglass in three separ- 
ate parts, which fit exactly together, and which consist 
of different kinds of glass. The dispersion occasioned 
by the first glass is partially corrected by the second, 
and still more by the third ; so that the light, at last, 
emerges from the lens perfectly colorless, and forms a 
distinct image ; and hence it is called the achromatic 
(or colorless) glass. It is an interesting fact, that the 
human eye is constructed of lenses combined in a man- 
ner somewhat similar, and is supposed to have furnish- 
ed to the artist the first hint of his invention. The 
cavity of the eye, that most perfect of all optical instru- 

* For a notice of Mr. Dollond, see ' Pursuit of Knowledge under 
Difficulties,' vol. ii, being vol. xv. of < The School Library.* 



POTTERY AND PORCELAIN. 207 

ments, is occupied by three substances, called humors, 
which serve, like a lens, to refract the rays of light, and 
to form an image on the retina. The humors are of 
different refractive powers, and have been supposed, 
by their successive action on the light, to correct any 
irregularity which might otherwise take place.* 



CHAPTER XL 

POTTERY AND PORCELAIN. 

Certain clays have a property, which renders them 
extremely valuable in the arts. They soften in water, 
and allow themselves to be kneaded and formed into 
moulds. These moulds, when exposed to heat, acquire 
a durable hardness, which fits them for being used 

* It is not certain that Dollond received the first hint for his great 
invention from observing the structure of the eye ; and it now seems 
probable, that the resemblance referred to in the text is rather appa- 
rent, than real. Dr. Brewster has discovered that the human eye is 
not achromatic ; the deviation of the differently-colored rays being 
too small to require any correction. That no provision for such 
correction exists in the eye, is inferred from the fact, that, if we shut 
up all the pupil, except a portion of its edge, or look past the finger, 
held near the eye, till the finger almost hides a narrow line of white 
light, we shall see a distinct prismatic spectrum of this line, contain- 
ing all the different colors ; an effect which could hardly take place, 
if the eye were achromatic. 

An improvement, which was recently made by M. Guinand, of 
Switzerland, in the manufacture of flint glass for lenses, has contrib- 
uted, nearly as much as the invention of Dollond, to restore the re- 
fracting telescope to use. The oxide of lead, which has been used, 
of late, much more freely than formerly, in making glass, because it 
improves its whiteness and lustre, serves to impair the value of the 
substance for optical purposes, by preventing that parallel arrange- 
ment of layers, of different densities, which is necessary, in order to 
■ prevent flaws. This difficulty has been so far obviated, that M. 
Guinand has produced objectglasses for telescopes, nearly twelve 
inches in diameter, and free from flaws ; and it is stated, that, while 
out of ten objectglasses, made of English or French flint glass, 
only one, or two, at most, were found serviceable, eight or nine, out 
of the same number, made by M. Guinand, turned out good. His 
method is unknown. 



208 POTTERY AND PORCELAIN. 

either in buildings, or in forming utensils and vessels. 
Brick, tiles, and the lining of furnaces, are familiar 
specimens of this art. They are formed of coarse 
common clay, which is a mixture of argillaceous earth 
and sand, and are apt, from the iron which the clay 
contains, to turn red in burning. Earthen and crock- 
ery ware form other wellknown specimens, — the first 
being composed of common clay, similar to that of 
which bricks are made, and the latter of the purer and 
whiter clays, in which iron exists only in small quanti- 
ties. Porcelain, the most beautiful and expensive kind 
of pottery, is formed only from argillaceous minerals, 
of extreme delicacy, united with silicious earths, which 
serve to render them semi-transparent, by means of its 
vitrification. The clay, which is used in pottery, causes 
the operation to differ essentially from that employed 
in making glass. There, the substances are softened 
by heat, and wrought at a high tempemture ; whereas, 
in this case, they are wrought while cold, and after- 
wards hardened by heat. It is impossible to explain 
all the details which enter into the manufacture of the 
different kinds of pottery. We shall merely describe 
those principles and processes which are common to 
them all, referring the reader, as in the last Chapter, to 
^ Bigelow^s Technology J^ These may be arranged 
under the several heads of, I. Preparing the clay. IL 
Moulding, or shaping. III. Burning. IV. Printing. 
V. Glazing. 

I. Preparing the clay. — This consists in adding to 
it, in certain cases, a portion of silicious earth, which 
serves to increase the firmness of the ware, and to ren- 
der it less liable to shrink and crack, on exposure to 
heat ; and likewise partially to vitrify its surface. In 
the common clays, this artificial mixture of silica is un- 
necessary, since they have it in suflScient quantities al- 
ready. In the finer clays, it is always required. The 
materials being mixed with water, are formed into a 

* See note on page 201. 



MOULDING OR SHAPING THE CLAY. 209 

paste, which is thoroughly beaten and kneaded, to ren- 
der it ductile, and to drive out the air. This operation 
is performed in different ways, according to the fine- 
ness of the fabric. In the celebrated manufactory of 
Mr. Wedgewood, in England, the clay is brought into 
a state of minute division, by machinery. A series of 
iron blades, or knives, are fixed to an upright axis, and 
made to revolve in a cylinder, intersecting or passing 
between another set of knives, which are fixed to the 
cylinder. The clay, being sufficiently divided by the 
continual intersection of these blades, is transferred to 
a vat, and agitated with water, till it assumes the con- 
sistence of pulp, so thin, that the stony and coarser par- 
ticles can subside, after a little rest, to the bottom, leav- 
ing the finer clay suspended. This last is then poured 
off, and suffered to subside ; after which, it is passed 
through sieves of different fineness, and becomes suflS- 
ciently fine for use. To this pulp is then added about 
one fifth as much pulp of pounded flint, prepared in 
the same manner ; and the mixture is then exposed to 
evaporation, by a gentle heat, until the superfluous 
water is dissipated, and the mass reduced to a proper 
consistency to work. To produce a uniformity in the 
thickness of the material, it is taken out, in successive 
pieces, which are repeatedly divided, and struck or 
pressed together, until every part becomes blended 
with the rest. 

II. Moulding, or shaping. — This is effected by 
throwing, pressing, or casting. In throwing, a piece 
of clay, of sufficient size to form the vessel, is placed 
upon a sort of table, or wheel, to which a rotary motion 
is given by the feet of the operator, or an assistant, and 
in some cases by a steam-engine. The potter begins 
to shape the clay with his hands, which are wet, to 
prevent its adhering. The rotary motion of the wheel 
gives it a circular form, and it is gradually wrought up 
to the intended shape, a tool being occasionally used 
to assist in the finishing. The handles, and other sim- 
ilar appendages, are made by forcing the clay, with a 
18=* 



210 POTTERY AND PORCELAIN. 

piston, through an aperture of the requisite size and 
shape. When formed, the handles are cemented to 
the ware, by a thin mixture of the clay with water, 
which the workmen call slip. 

As the wheel, or table, can only be used in making 
vessels of a circular shape, when the form is different, 
the vessel must be made by pressing or casting. In 
pressing, moulds are made of plaster of Paris, half of 
the figure being on one side of the mould, and the 
other half on the other side. These fit accurately to- 
gether. The clay being first made into flat pieces, of 
the thickness of the article, one of them is pressed into 
one side of the mould, and the other into the other 
side. The superfluous clay being cut away, the two 
sides of the mould are brought together, to unite the 
two halves of the vessel. The mould being then sep- 
arated from the clay, the article is complete, as to form. 

In casting, the clay, in the state of pulp, sufficiently 
thin to flow, is poured into moulds made of plaster, by 
which the superfluous w^ater being rapidly absorbed, the 
clay is deposited, to acquire sufficient solidity to preserve 
the shape communicated by the mould. When the 
vessels are finished, as to form, they are dried, either by 
exposure to the air and sun, or by artificial heat, in a 
room of the temperature of eighty or ninety degrees. 

III. Burning. — This is necessary, to give the re- 
quisite hardness. Vessels merely dried after the man- 
ner of some rude nations, in ancient and modern times, 
are extremely frangible. The burning is performed in 
ovens or kilns ; and, in the better kinds of ware, the 
articles are enclosed in cases or boxes of burnt clay, 
called saggars, and, by means of flame circulating 
among these cases, are raised to a red lieat. The fire 
is kept up, from twenty-four to sixty hours, and the 
saggars suffered to cool before they are removed. On 
the intensity and duration of the heat, depend, of 
course, the strength and solidity of the ware. When 
taken from the oven, the ware is extremely bibulous, 
— that is, capable of absorbing a great deal of water. 



GLAZING. 211 

This is the case with our common brown and red 
earthen ware, which absorbs water in such quantities, 
that vessels in this state are used as coolers, being kept 
saturated with water, which, as it passes constantly to 
the outer surface, generates cold by its evaporation. 
This property of absorbing water renders necessary the 
next operation, which is termed 

IV. Glazing, — This consists in covering the vessel 
with a vitreous coating. For this purpose, ground flint 
is mixed with an equal proportion of some metallic ox- 
ide, such as the oxide of lead, if we wish a yellow glaz- 
ing ; oxide of tin, if we wish it white ; and if black, ox- 
ide of manganese. These materials are pounded to an 
extremely fine powder, and mixed with water, to form 
a thin liquid. The ware is dipped into this fluid, and 
drawn out ; whereupon, the moisture is absorbed by 
the clay, and the glazing particles remain upon the sur- 
face. These are afterwards melted, by exposing the 
vessel a second time to the heat of the kiln, and they 
then constitute a uniform and durable vitreous coating. 
In the European and American manufactories, they are 
obliged to burn the vessels, before glazing them, be- 
cause the composition, of which the vessel is made, is 
not rendered capable, merely by drying, of resisting 
water, so as to bear dipping in the glazing fluid. In 
this respect, the Chinese have great advantages ; their 
materials being such, that, after drying, they will bear 
immersion in liquid without injury. By this means, a 
great amount of fuel is saved. It is proper to add, that 
the ware commonly called stone ware does not require 
to be mixed with metallic oxides, but affords the mate- 
rials of its own glazing, by a vitrification of its surfaces. 
When the furnace in which it is burnt arrives at its 
greatest heat, a quantity of muriate of soda, or common 
salt, is thrown into the body of the kiln. The salt rises 
in vapor, and envelopes the hot ware, and, by the com- 
bination of its alkali with the silicious particles on the 
surface of the ware, a perfect vitrification is produced. 
This glazing, consisting of an earthy glass, is insoluble 



212 POTTERY AND PORCELAIN. 



by most chemical agents, and hence has great advan 
tages over the glazhig formed of lead, which is apt, by 
the dissolving of the lead, to communicate a poisonous 
quality to the liquids contained in the vessel. 

Where colors or pictures are to be imprinted on the 
ware, it must be done, in most cases, previous to the 
glazing. In China, Europe, and America, if elaborate 
pieces of workmanship are to be produced, the design, 
or drawing, is executed beforehand, with the pencil. 
But in the common figured white ware, the designs are 
first engraved upon copper, from which an impression is 
taken, on thin paper, with a color formed of some me- 
talUc oxide. This paper is then moistened, applied 
closely to the unglazed surface, and rubbed in, so that 
the coloring matter may be absorbed. The paper is 
then washed off, leaving the printed figure transferred 
to the sides of the vessels.^ 

Chinese porcelain differs from the finer kinds of pot- 
tery merely as to its materials, which are two varieties of 
feldspar, abounding in China, but not found in Europe 
or in this Country. Materials, however, of nearly the 
same kind, have been discovered, and porcelain is man- 
ufactured in Philadelphia, which, in respect to the ele- 
gance of its forms, and the beauty of the designs which 
are executed upon it, excels that of China. But in 
point of hardness, durabiUty, transparency, strength, 
and the permanency of the glaze, the Oriental manu- 
facture has not yet been equalled. 

It must be evident to the reader, on the slightest re- 
flection, that the arts described in this and the preced- 
ing Chapter, are most intimately allied with chemical 
science. Their progress has been proportioned to the 
intelligence and scientific skill which has been applied 
to them. It is less than seventy-five years, since, in 
England, the manufacture of pottery was limited to the 
coarsest kinds of crockery ware, and to small quantities 
even of these. Like our own country, it was depen- 

* Transferring, as it is called, is on much the same principle. 



1 



COPYING, INCLUDING CASTING, ETC. 213 

dent for such articles on Holland, Saxony, and China. 
Now, England exports, annually, near forty millions of 
pieces of earthen ware, to all parts of the world ; and 
many of these are of a very fine quality. Much of 
this improvement is to be attributed to the increased 
resources, furnished by machinery and a knowledge of 
chemistry. Mr. Wedgewood, whose name has already 
occurred in this Chapter, and who may be said to have 
created the manufacture of fine pottery in England, 
not only was himself a man of science, but employed, 
in his experiments, the constant aid of a distinguished 
chemist. In his attempts to improve the art, he was 
not content to grope in the dark, in the hope that he 
might blunder upon his object ; but he sought in the na- 
ture of his agents, carefully observed, for rules to guide 
his experiments and processes. The consequence is, 
seen, in the abundance and beauty of the important 
fabric with which he enriched and benefited his coun- 
try. Had he, and his successors in the same kind of 
manufacture, been satisfied to tread in the old paths, or 
to adventure improvements without the light of science, 
they might have left that manufacture where it was fifty 
years since, and we might now be compelled to use an 
inferior article, and yet pay for it a vastly higher price. 



CHAPTER Xn. 

COPYING, INCLUDING CASTING, PRINTING, ENGRAVING, ETC. 

One very important object in the arts is, to produce 
copies of an article ; or, in other words, to produce a 
great number of articles which are exactly similar in 
form, size, arid finish. To do this by hand would be 
not only difficult, but impossible. Hence the method 
of copying, by casts and superficial impressions, has 
been adopted, — an expedient which strikingly resembles 
machinery, in the facility and cheapness with which it 



214 COPYING, INCLUDING CASTING, ETC. 

produces the most finished specimens of workmanship. 
We have aheady described the manner in which cop- 
ies are taken, in the manufacture of some kinds of pot- 
tery and glass, and also in the metallurgic arts ; print- 
ing, engraving, and stamping, furnish us with other 
familiar examples. 

We propose, in this Chapter, to make a few remarks, 
I. on the patterns, from which the articles are made, 
and II. on the methods of taking the impressions, 

I. The patterns are formed of wood, metal, or plas- 
ter, according to the degree of pressure which is to be 
applied to them, and to the temperature at which the 
copy must be taken. If great pressure is necessary, 
plaster would not be sufficiently strong, and hence the 
pattern must be formed of metal, or, where the pressure 
is less severe, of wood. So, again, if the material is 
applied to the pattern, when very hot, the latter must 
evidently be composed of some substance, not liable, 
on the one hand, to take fire, nor, on the other, to 
crack, and fall to pieces. In casting iron, and other 
metals, the pattern is usually made up in sand, and is, 
in fact, merely a copy, from another pattern, which has 
been previously executed in wood or metal. This first 
pattern, being placed in a mass of soft sand, sufficiently 
damp to adhere a little, is made, by pressure, to com- 
municate its form, and is then removed. Into the cav- 
ities, which it leaves in the sand, is poured the melted 
metal, which, on cooling, will assume, of course, the 
same figure with the original pattern. Plaster is gen- 
erally used where no great pressure is needed in taking 
the impression, and when the pattern has to be taken 
directly from the object. Thus, in taking busts of the 
human face or form, plaster, when moistened, will, 
from its plastic nature, adapt itself exactly to the object, 
and is therefore peculiarly fitted for this purpose. It 
is removed in separate pieces from the face, and then 
reunited, to form the mould for future copies. In 
stamping, printing, and engraving, the pattern is al- 
most always formed of metal ; since it is better fitted 



CHEMICAL ENGRAVING. 215 

both to take a high polish, and to bear great pressure. 
It may be interesting, to be informed of the method 
pursued in forming engravers^ plates and printing 
types, which, of all patterns, are the most useful. 

1. The plates on which the engraver draws his de- 
signs are generally metal, though in some cases he em- 
ploys wood and stone ; and hence the two species of 
engraving, called wood-engraving and lithography. 
The lines are drawn, in some cases, by mechanical, and 
in others, by chemical, agents. In mechanical engrav- 
ing, the artist uses a sharp instrument called a graver, 
with which he either cuts out the parts which are to ap- 
pear black or shaded in the picture, or leaves them rais- 
ed by removing the intermediate parts. In the finest 
kinds, called line-engraving and stippling, the shad- 
ed parts are cut out ; in mezzotinto, which resembles 
painting in India ink, and also in loood cuts, they are 
raised. In the first of these, (mezzotinto,) the whole 
surface is roughened wdth a toothed instrument, called 
a needle, and the part corresponding to light is then 
rubbed down. In wood-engraving, the part left light 
is cut out. 

In chemical engraving, the artist, in order to pro- 
duce lines, avails himself of the chemical aflSnity which 
subsists between some of his materials. The most fa- 
miliar examples of this are, etching and lithography ; 
to which we may now add the art of galvanic engrav- 
ing. In etching, the engraver having prepared his 
plate, as in common engraving, proceeds to cover it, 
throughout its whole surface, with a thin coating of 
varnish, made of wax, mastic, and asphaltum, — some- 
times, of rosin and animal oil. This varnish is black- 
ened by the smoke of a lamp, in order that the operator 
may see the progress and state of his work. He then 
takes a needle, and, supporting his hand on a ruler, 
makes his drawing in the coat of the varnish, being 
always careful to penetrate to the copper. Having 
completed his design, he pours a quantity of diluted 
nitric acid over the plate, which is prevented from es- 



216 COPYING, INCLUDING CASTING, ETC. 

caping, by a wall of soft wax, surrounding the plate. 
By the action of the acid, all the lines or points, where 
the copper is exposed by the strokes of the needle, 
are bitten in, as the artist terms it ; that is, impres- 
sions are made, as if by cutting. When the acid has 
acted for some time, it is poured off, and those parts 
which are to be most lightly shaded are stopped out (or 
covered) with varnish, to protect them from further 
action. New acid is poured for the second shades, 
which are next stopped out, and so the processes are 
repeated, alternately, till the piece is finished, and the 
varnish is cleaned off. Such engravings must evidently 
be coarse. 

In lithography, a smooth slab is selected, of a spe- 
cies of marble, which will imbibe water, so that the ink 
used in printing will not adhere. On this, the lines to 
be copied, whether of writing or of a picture, are drawn 
with a composition, which has the double property of 
adhering to the stone, and of attaching to itself the 
printing ink. This composition, which is made of 
soap, tallow, white wax, shell lac, and lampblack, is 
used in a liquid form, so as to be applied with a pen, 
or a delicate brush ; or it is solid, and moulded into the 
form of a crayon, or pencil. The writing or figure on 
the stone must be reversed ; and the beauty of the copy 
will correspond to the delicacy of this drawing. When 
the stone is thus prepared, the impression is taken in a 
manner somewhat similar to that of copperplate print- 
ing. The stone being wet with a sponge, the ink is 
applied over the whole surface, but adheres only to the 
composition, leaving the intermediate parts perfectly 
clean : a sheet of paper is immediately placed upon it 
and pressed forcibly, and thus receives a perfect tran- 
script of the figure on the stone. 

In galvanic engraving, the shaded lines are raised, 
being deposited from a solution of copper on a plate of 
the same metal, by means of galvanic electricity.^ 

* A description of the process will be found in Appendix, VIII. 



TYPES. 217 

2. Types, — The movable metal types, those used 
in the printing of books like the present, are themselves 
copies, produced by casting from moulds of copper, cal- 
led matrices. The lower parts of these matrices, which 
bear the impressions of the letter or character intended, 
are also copies, being made by punching with steel pun- 
ches on which the same character exists on a raised 
surface. Nor are even these steel punches made with- 
out the aid of copying. Many of the cavities which exist 
in them, such as those in the middle of the punches 
for the letters a, 6, d, g, &c., are produced from other 
steel punches, in which these parts are raised, or in relief. 
In forming stereotype plates, the process of copying 
is carried still further. The page to be stereotyped is 
set up with common movable types, which are obtained^ 
as we have just seen, by copying, thrice repeated. On 
this page, plaster, in a liquid state, is poured, which, as 
it hardens, will receive a transcript of the page. From 
these plaster copies, or moulds, another copy is taken 
in metal, from which the printer takes his printed page. 
The present work is from stereotype plates. Thus it 
appears, that ordinary types are the third copy from 
the steel punch used in the first instance, and that the 
stereotype plate is the fifth copy ; and that the letter, 
from the time it is first formed, has to go through six 
copyings, before it can reach the eye of the reader. 
The same remark applies to many patterns. They are 
themselves copies, — it being inconvenient, owing to the 
material of which they are composed, or to some other 
circumstances, to take them directly from the original. 

It is obvious, that much of the labor involved in 
copying consists in forming the pattern. For in- 
stance, the ornamental plates for a stove, which are 
cast by four men, in half an hour, are taken from pat- 
terns, the making of which occupied the same number 
of men perhaps a year. So an engraver may spend the 
labor of one or two years, in preparing a plate, from 
which he will subsequently take a hundred impressions 
in an hour ; and, while the original plate, or pattern, 
19 s. A. 



218 COPYING, INCLUDING CASTING, ETC. 

cost some hundreds of dollars, he can afford to sell his 
copies for a few cents. This fact may serve to show 
the analogy between machinery and copying, to which 
we have already referred. Machines are often expen- 
sive ; but this expense they not only repay, by the in- 
creased rapidity and accuracy with which they produce 
work, but they enable the manufacturer, by the same 
means, to afford his articles at a less price, and yet re- 
ceive from them a greater profit. 

II. We will now describe some of the methods, by 
which copies for general use are taken from patterns. 
The mode of taking casts must be sufficiently obvious, 
from what we have already said. The other species 
of copying may be reduced to four ; namely, Punching, 
Drawing, Stamping, and Printing, 

1. Punching, — In this operation, a steel punch is 
driven by a blow, or by pressure, through a substance, 
which is to be cut in some required way. In some 
cases, the object is to make repeated copies of the same 
aperture, and the substance separated from the plate is 
rejected ; in other cases, it is the small pieces cut out 
which are the objects of the workman's labor. Of the 
former kind, are the holes which are punched in the 
iron and copper plate for boilers, in colanders, strain- 
ers, &c., the ornamental patterns of open-work which 
decorate the tinned and japanned wares in general use ; 
the inlaid plates of brass and rosewood, called buhl 
work, which ornament our furniture, &c. &c. It should 
be remarked, however, that, in the last instance, both 
the parts cut out, and those which remain, are in many 
cases employed. The following are instances in which 
the only part made use of is that which is punched 
out, namely, the circular disks of thin cards, which are 
substituted instead of paper, for retaining in its place 
the charge of a fowlingpiece ; the golden stars, leaves, 
and other devices, sold in shops, for the purpose of or- 
namenting, made of paper and pasteboard ; the small 
pieces of sheet-steel which compose the chains used in 
connecting the mainspring and fusee in watches and 



WIRE DRAWING. 219 

clocks^ &c. It is obvious, that, in each of these cases, 
but especially in the first and last, it is of the utmost 
importance that the objects produced should be of the 
same identical form and size. 

2. Drawing. — We give this name to certain proces- 
ses in which a prescribed form is given to substances, 
by drawing them through holes. Of this nature are 
wire-drawing, tube-drawing, iron-rolling, &c. &c. 
In such copying, there exists but little resemblance be- 
tween the copy and the original. It is the cross sec- 
tion of the thing produced, which is similar to the tool 
through which it passes. When the substance to be 
operated on is hard, it frequently passes, in succession, 
through several holes, and must also, in some cases, be 
annealed at intervals. 

In wire-drawing, the metal to be converted into, 
wire is made of a cyhndrical form, and is then drawn 
forcibly through holes, which gradually diminish in size, 
and are circular, square, or half-round, according to 
the required form of the wire. In drawing the pinion 
wire, which is used by clockmakers, the draw-plate has 
holes which resemble a star, with from six to twelve 
rays. A short piece of this wire, about half an inch 
in length, becomes a pinion for a clock, the leaves of 
which, having passed through the draw-plate, are al- 
ready burnished and finished. 

'' Nearly similar, in its mode of execution, to wire- 
drawing, is the art of forming tubes of uniform diame- 
ter. After the sheet brass has been bent round and 
soldered, so as to form a hollow cylinder, if the outside 
diameter is that which is required to be uniform, it is 
drawn through a succession of holes, as in wire-drawing. 
If the inside diameter is to be uniform, a succession of 
steel cylinders, called triblets, are drawn through the 
brass tube. In making tubes for telescopes, it is nec- 
essary that both the inside and outside should be uni- 
form. A steel triblet is passed into the tube, which is 
then drawn through a succession of holes, until the out- 
side diameter is reduced to the required size. The 



220 COPYING; INCLUDING CASTING, ETC. 

metal of which the tube is formed is condensed be- 
tween the holes, and the steel cylinder within it ; and 
when the latter is withdrawn, the internal surface ap- 
pears polished. The brass tube is considerably extend- 
ed by this process, sometimes even to double its first 
length." 

" Leaden pipes, for the conveyance of water, were 
formerly made by casting ; but it has been found, that 
they can be made both cheaper and better, by drawing 
them through holes, in the manner of wire. A cylinder 
of lead, of five or six inches in diameter, and about 
two feet long, is cast with a small hole through its axis, 
and an iron triblet, of fifteen feet in length, is forced 
into the hole. It is then drawn through a series of 
holes, until the lead has extended from one end to the 
other of the triblet, and is of the proper thickness, in 
proportion to the size of the pipe." 

" Iron-rolling, — When cylinders of iron, of greater 
thickness than wire, are required, they are formed by 
passing wrought iron between rollers, each of which 
has sunk in it a semi-cylindrical groove ; and as such 
rollers rarely touch accurately, a longitudinal line will 
usually be observed in iron so manufactured. Bar iron 
is thus shaped into all the various forms of round, 
square, half-round, oval, &c. in which it occurs in 
commerce. A particular species of moulding is thus 
made, which resembles, in its section, that part of the 
frame of a window which separates two adjacent panes 
of glass. Being much stronger than wood, it can be 
considerably reduced in thickness, and consequently 
offers less obstruction to the light ; it is much used for 
skylights."* 

It is sometimes required that the iron thus produced 
shall not be of uniform thickness, throughout. This is 
the case in rolling some forms of iron for rail-roads, for 
which purpose, greater depth is required towards the 
middle of the rail, which is at the greatest distance 
from the supports. This is accomphshed, by cutting 

* See Babbage, on copying. 



PRINTING. 221 

the groove in the rollers deeper at those parts where 
additional strength is required, so that the hollow, which 
surrounds the roller, would, if it could be unwound, be 
a mould of the shape the iron is intended to fit. 

3. '^ Stamping. — This mode of copying is exten- 
sively employed in the arts. It is generally executed 
by means of large presses, with a screw and heavy fly- 
wheel, and moved by hand, by water, or by steam pow- 
er. The materials on which the copies are impressed 
are most frequently metals, and the process is some- 
times executed when they are hot; and in one case, 
when the metal is in a state between sohdity and flu- 
idity. It is in this way that the coins which circulate 
as money are produced ; as also ornaments for military 
accoutrements and furniture ; buttons embossed with 
crests and other devices, as well as those of a hemi- 
spherical form ; nail-heads, medals, &c. In medals, 
which usually have their figures in higher relief than 
coins, a single blow is rarely sufficient to bring them 
to perfection. As this blow, however, renders them 
too hard to receive many subsequent blows, without 
injury to the die, they are removed, after being struck, 
to a furnace, where they are carefully heated red hot, 
and annealed ; after which, they are again placed be- 
tween the dies, and receive additional blows. For 
large medals, and those on which the figures are very 
prominent, these processes must be repeated many 
times, — in some instances nearly a hundred." 

4. Printing. — The impressions in printing are some- 
times taken from ink appUed to raised surfaces^ and 
sometimes from cavities. Of the former kind, is the 
common printing from movable types ;^ also from stereo- 
type plates, and from wooden blocks. Wooden blocks 
are used tQ communicate the impressions which have 

* The prodigious improvement which has been made in the art of 
printing, within the last thirty years, is strikingly illustrated by a fact 
mentioned in a late number of the English Quarterly Review. For- 
merly, it required nearly three months to print a Number of that work, 
which is now printed in twice as many days. 

19* 



222 COPYING, INCLUDING CASTING, ETC. 

been carved upon them to paper ; and, with the addi- 
tion of small pieces of copper wire, of various forms, 
fixed into them, they also serve to communicate figures, 
of various colors, to calico and oil cloth. 

Printing offices are so common, throughout the coun- 
try, that a large proportion of our readers must have 
seen them in operation. But as there may be others, 
who have not seen them, and the process is both cu- 
rious and important, we subjoin a short description. 
The first step is to deposit the types in the case, 
which is a sort of drawer divided into compartments, 
or cells, and placed on a frame of convenient height. 
There are two cases on each frame, the upper contain- 
ing ninety-eight, and the lower fifty-four, cells ; those in 
the lower, of unequal sizes, corresponding to the gi'eat- 
er or less quantity required of each individual letter. 
^^ Although the ideas or words of one author would 
not, especially in his own opinion, at all suit those of 
his brother writer, yet the letters which compose them 
are found, in practice, to bear to each other exactly the 
same proportion." The letters are not arranged in the 
lower cases in alphabetical order, but those most often 
used are placed in the most convenient position. -^ In 
the English language, the letter e inhabits the largest 
box ; a, c, d, h, i, m, n, o, r, 5, t, u, live in the next 
sized apartments ; 6,/, g, I, p, v, w, y, dwell in what 
may be termed bedrooms, while J, ft, q, x, z, (e, ce, 
double letters, capitals, &c., are more humbly lodged 
in the cupboards, garrets, and cellars. The reason of 
this arrangement is, that the letter e being visited by 
the compositor sixty times as often as z, it is evidently 
advisable that the letters oftenest required should be 
the nearest as well as in the greatest quantity. Short 
types, or quadrats, for spaces between the words, and 
those for the punctuation, are arranged upon the same 
principle. Latin and French books devour more of c, 
i, I, m, p, q, s, u, and v, than English ones, and for 
these languages the cases must therefore be arranged 
accordingly." 



PRINTING. 223 

'^ The usual way of filling cases with letters is, by 
distributing the type pages of books, which have been 
printed off. This is done with astonishing celerity. If 
the type were jumbled, or, as it is technically termed, 
in piy the time requisite for recognising the tiny coun- 
tenance of each letter would be enormous : but the 
compositor, being enabled to grasp and read one or two 
sentences at a time, without again looking at the let- 
ters, drops them, one by one, here, there, and every 
where, according to their destination. It is calculated 
that a good compositor can distribute four thousand 
letters per hour, which is about four times as many as 
he can compose ; just as in common life all men can 
spend money, at least twenty times as readily as they 
can earn it. 

^' As soon as the workman has filled his cases, his 
next Sisyphus' labor is, by composition, to exhaust 
them. Glancing occasionally at his copy before him, 
he consecutively picks up, with a zigzag movement, and 
with almost the velocity of lightning, the letters he re- 
quires. In arranging these types, in the stick, or little 
iron frame which he holds in his left hand, he must of 
course place them with their heads or letter-ends up- 
permost ; besides which, they must, like soldiers, be 
made to march the same way." For this purpose, the 
types are all cast with a nick on one of their sides, cor- 
responding to the bottom of the letter, by which simple 
contrivance, the different parts of the type are easily 
recognised. The compositor, therefore, has no occa- 
sion to look at his types while setting them. He se- 
lects the proper letter, by directing his hand to its ap- 
propriate cell, and gives it its proper position in the 
stick, by feeling the different surfaces. ^' The compos- 
ing stick holds a certain measure of type, and as soon 
as it is filled, the paragraph, or fragment of paragraph, 
it contains, is transplanted" to a galley, or movable 
frame prepared for the purpose, whence it is 7nade up 
into pages. " This process is repeated, until the pages 
composing a sheet, being completed, are firmly fixed 



224 COPYING, INCLUDING CASTING, ETC. 

by wooden quoins, or wedges, into an iron frame call- 
ed a chase ; and, after having thus been properly pre- 
pared for the proof-press, a single copy is pulled off, 
and the business of correction then begins."^ The 
proof copy is carefully examined by a reader, who 
marks the errors in the margin, which the compositor 
corrects by picking out the wrong letter with a hodkin, 
and replacing it with the right one. Another copy is 
then taken and revised, and sometimes several in suc- 
cession, until the whole is pronounced correct. 

The /orm, as it is called, is now ready for the press. 
If to be printed by a hand-press, it is placed on a mov- 
able bed, so that the pressman, after laying upon it a 
sheet of moistened paper, can, by turning a crank with 
his left hand, roll it under the press, while, with his 
right hand, he pulls a lever, which brings down the 
full weight of the press upon it. He then rolls it back, 
and while he is employed in removing the sheet which 
has received the impression, and laying on another, the 
types are supplied with ink. This was formerly done 
with a pair of leather balls, stuffed with wool. It is 
now done, more perfectly, with rollers, which pass over 
the types, and with the additional advantage, that the 
rollers can be managed by a boy, or even by machin- 
ery, whereas, the balls required a skilful workman. 
Great improvements have also been made in the press 
itself. Formerly, the pressure was made by a powerful 
screw worked by a lever. So much strength was de- 
manded, to work it, that two pressmen were always re- 
quired, to relieve each other, by working alternately at 
giving the impression and with the balls. Now, a 
double lever, united by a toggle joint, is substituted for 
the screw. By which, and other improvements, a sin- 
gle pressman is enabled to accomplish more work than 
two could, formerly, and in a better manner, and with 
less fatigue. 

In large establishments, most of the printing, from 

* See the London Quarterly Review, for December, 1839, for a 
lively account of the operations of a large printing establishment, 
from which much of the above description is taken. 



PRINTING. 225 

the forms, is done on machine or power presses. These 
are worked either by a crank, turned by a laborer, or 
by horse, or water, or steam, power. There is a great 
variety of these, but they are generally so constructed, 
that the whole work is done by the machinery. A boy 
or girl lays the sheet of paper upon a slender frame, 
when it is immediately drawn away, and a moment after 
is deposited in a pile, already printed, in the most per- 
fect manner. Most of the machines used in this coun- 
try print only one side of the paper at a time, the pro- 
cess requiring to be repeated for the other side. There 
are some, however, and they are more common in Eng- 
land, that print both sides, at the same operation. It 
is stated that the Messrs. Clowes, the printers of the 
London Quarterly Review, have in operation, in one 
establishment, nineteen machines, each capable of prints 
ing a thousand sheets an hour. 

There is perhaps no department of the arts, in which 
improvements have been made more rapidly, than in 
printing. In speaking of paper-making by machinery, 
it was said, that the paper is drawn out in a contin- 
uous sheet, being subsequeritly divided, for use. We 
have seen it stated, recently, that a machine has been 
contrived and put in operation, by which the contin- 
uous undivided sheet of paper, passes directly into a 
printing machine, in which all the forms of a book of 
considerable size are placed around a cylinder, and 
there receives a full impression at one operation. Thus 
the unsightly rags, deposited in one hour in a paper- 
maker's vat, in another, come out, not merely a paper 
of beautiful texture and complexion, but a full-sized 
printed book, ready for the binder's hands. 

Examples of printing from cavities may be seen in 
the case of copper plates, into which the characters 
have been cut by a graver ; in engravings on steel, 
which are much more valuable than those on copper, 
since the plate will give off many thousand impressions, 
without sensible deterioration, whereas the copper soon 
becomes imperfect ; in music-printing, which is usual- 



226 COPYING, INCLUDING CASTING, ETC. 

ly printed from pewter plates, on which the characters 
have been impressed by steel punches ; and in calico- 
printing, from cylinders of copper, four or five inches 
in diameter, on which the desired pattern has been pre- 
viously engraved. One portion of the cylinder is ex- 
posed to the ink, whilst an elastic scraper, of stuffed 
leather, by being pressed forcibly against another part, 
removes all superfluous ink from the surface, previously 
to its reaching the cloth. A piece of calico, twenty- 
eight yards in length, rolls through this press, and is 
printed in four or five minutes. 

One of the most ingenious and important applica- 
tions of printing is in the production of colored maps. 
Instead of being first engraved on copper or steel, at a 
great expense, maps may now be printed from metal 
types, fixed in wooden blocks, to designate the position 
and names of places, the courses of rivers, &c. ; and the 
map is both printed and colored by machinery, and at 
one operation. A large sheet of white drawing paper 
is placed at the bottom of what seems, at first, to be an 
open box, — the sides of this box being covered with met- 
al plates, and so adjusted, that they successively shut and 
open, like a lid. One of them is colored blue, another 
yellow, a third red, and a fourth black. The black 
plate impresses on the paper the marks and names of 
cities, &c., with the necessary lines, while the remain- 
der serve to impart different colors to the various king- 
doms, principahties, &c. These plates are appUed, in 
quick succession, to the paper, by means of machinery. 

Analogous to printing is the process called emboss- 
ing. The pattern being engraved on rollers, the sub- 
stance to be embossed is passed through them ; and, 
being subjected to very great pressure, is forced into 
the cavities, while the parts not opposite to any cavity 
are powerfully condensed between the rollers. In this 
way, a raised pattern is produced on the surface of 
leather, calico, &c. We will conclude these brief re- 
marks, by an account of a recent invention of Mr. Per- 
kins, which enables us to multiply copies of an engrav- 



PRINTING. 227 

ing, very easily and cheaply, and, to all practical pur- 
poses, without any limit. '' A cyhnder of soft steel, 
pressed with great force against the hardened steel 
engraving, is now made to roll slowly backward and 
forward over it, thus receiving the design, but in relief. 
This is, in its turn, hardened, without injury ; and, if it 
be slowly rolled to and fro, with strong pressure, on 
successive plates of copper, it will imprint on a thous- 
and of them a perfect facsimile of the original steel 
engraving, from which it resulted. Thus the number 
of copies, producible from the same design, is multi- 
plied a thousandfold. But even this is very far short 
of the limits to which this process may be extended. 
The hardened steel roller, bearing the design upon it, 
in relief, may be employed to make a few of its first 
impressions upon plates of soft steely and these, being 
hardened, become the representatives of the original 
engraving, and may, in their turn, be made the parents 
of other rollers, each generating copper plates like their 
prototypes. The possible extent to which facsimiles 
of one original engraving may thus be multiplied, al- 
most confounds the imagination, and appears to be, for 
all practical purposes, unlimited."* 

The influence which has been exerted, by this art 
of copying, on the welfare of the human race, is wholly 
incalculable. To say nothing of the benefits bestowed 
by the other methods of copying, printing alone, by the 
stimulus which it has given to the mind, has created 
much of the science and art which we possess, and has 
conferred upon the multitude, in every country, almost all 
the light and civilization that they now enjoy. Previous 
to the invention of printing, and of the arts of manu- 
facturing paper, (for without the latter the former would 
have been of httle value,) books could be multiplied 
only by the slow and expensive process of transcribing. 
This Volume, of which several thousand copies can be 
printed in a few hours, in a large printing-office, could 
not be transcribed once, by a single hand, short of many 

* Babbage. 



228 COPYING, INCLUDING CASTING, ETC. 

weeks, and at an expense of from twenty to fifty dol- 
lars.* For this work, the cost of which does not now 
exceed a dollar, an individual would have had to pay, 
previous to the invention of printing, at least twenty 
times the same sum, and would have had, after all, an 
article vastly inferior, both in convenience and beauty. 
It is no exaggeration to say, that a library of one thous- 
and volumes can now be purchased for less money than 
would have been required, previous to the invention of 
the art of printing, for the purchase of fifty. 

Copying by Transfer, — Another method of copy- 
ing, is, by a direct transfer of the lines to be copied, 
whether a printed or written page, or an engraved pic- 
ture, to the surface of a lithographic stone, from which 
copies are printed to an indefinite extent. Attempts 
of this kind had been made, for a long time ; but not 
proving successful, they were abandoned as impracti- 
cable, until, within a few years, one of our own coun- 
trymen succeeded in the experiment. A method of 
copying, by this process, was announced, in Paris, in 
1839, as a new discovery, by Messrs. Duponts, (two 
brothers, one a printer, the other a lithographer ;) 
but we are assured, on undoubted authority,! that the 
same art was discovered and practised in this country 
as early as 1832, by Mr. Joseph Dixon, formerly of 
Salem, now of Taunton, Massachusetts. The minute 
details of the process are not revealed by either of the 
discoverers. It should seem, however, that substan- 
tially the same method is pursued by both, although 
we are not aware that there is any reason to suppose 
that either is borrowed from the other. By the dates 
which are given above, it will be seen, that the priority 
of discovery rests entirely with our countryman. 

* The copyists of ancient days sonnetimes spent fifty years in tran- 
scribing and illuminating one copy of the Bible. Five hundred dol- 
lars was paid for a single MS. concordance, and about the same 
price, per volume, was paid, in one instance, for a copy of the works 
of Livy. 

t Papers of that date, and specimens of the work done at the 
time. 



5°)" 

DIXIT 

KORAIT IBN ONAIPH. 

1 Si extitiflfem ex Mazinitis^ non promifcui juris 
feciflent cnmelos meos 
Filii iiumi coUeclx, e Dulbo Filio Sjeibani. 

N O T ^. 

species iv. t? x. notant rapere quid tanquam cujusque arbitrio 
permijfum : videturque origo ijlius ufus Jit a in re oculis expd" 
nenda , ut cam capiat qii velit : dicitur etiam hinc , divulgavit 
Jccretum ejus. 

Ibid, iLLu^JLA.J) proprie humi colkFta: forma/fl?w. part. 
pajf. PabyL In Golio exponitur Fir vilijjimus , & /iquioris or^ 
dints. Fwtus natusve inulieris. Utrumque, c^uzii humo recoU 
leclum quid. Hie in foemina vilioris^ & fervilis condiPionir. 
Ejus niafc. hx^ti efl puer projeStitius ignoto Patre ^ Matre^ 
qui de terra tollitur. Ncmpe Thema.laJtf Jop^ efl legit rem 

bumi ahje^aniy ut Japillos y /picas y alia. Inde, laiJ & JUiU 

Qpl fpicilegium ; hlx} /pica qucs fakem mejjhris effugiunt: 

pulchre ujju3) i^jii fpicilegium aurifodince , pro particulis au^ 

ri qua in fodina rcperiuntur, iLiO & ii>Uii item , quicquii 

de hunio Icgitur. Vides , iinde pera DIpS^ difta fit. Venu- 

fli? avium inglavicm LiwMcJI il^'N) colU^ricem glarca vo 
ciiint. 



I 



COPYING BY TRANSFER. 229 

Mr. Dixon's method of transfer is applicable to any 
printing, whether old or recent. He first spreads a 
liquid, the composition of which he keeps secret, over 
the page or print to be copied. This page is then laid 
on a hthographic stone, to which, on being pressed, 
it immediately conveys a reversed facsimile of itself. 
From this stone, copies are multiplied, at pleasure, in 
the usual manner of lithographic printing. The essen- 
tial peculiarity of the process seems to consist in the 
properties of the fluid applied to the surface of the 
print, by which the original ink, however dried and 
hardened by age, is made to act on the stone with an 
influence precisely similar to that produced by the 
common hthographic drawing. It is exceedingly cu- 
rious, and adds greatly to the value of the discovery, 
that all this is done without the slightest tarnish to the 
original print, or the least diminution, in any way, of its 
clearness or depth of color. The whole is done with 
such facility, that a page has been taken from a volume, 
transferred to stone, several copies printed from it, and 
the leaf restored to its place, in its original state, in 
sixteen minutes. Mr. Dixon has kindly furnished us 
with the specimen, which is opposite to this page. 

It would be interesting, if our limits would permit, 
to give a history of the steps of Mr. Dixon's discovery ; 
as it would furnish another example of the happy in- 
fluence of science in conducting an ingenious inquirer 
to a successful issue. The discovery was not acciden- 
tal, but was the result of patient and long-continued 
research. Being a printer, and consequently familiar 
with the properties of the ink used in that art, and be- 
ing also well versed in chemical science, it occurred to 
him, to seek for some substance that should exert such 
a,n influence upon the ink, as to enable him to obtain a. 
copy. It was not until after many discouragements, 
and a long course of unsuccessful attempts, that he at 
length succeeded. In the mean time, his health be- 
came much impaired, and his pecuniary means exhaust- 
ed, so that he has not been able to introduce his dis- 
20 s. A. 



230 LOCOMOTION. 

covery so successfully to the public^ as, under other 
circumstances, he might have done ; nor to derive the 
benefit from it, to which its importance and value enti- 
tle him. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



LOCOMOTION. 



The progress of society in any country will be ma- 
terially influenced by the means of intercourse and 
transportation which it enjoys. Where roads and ve- 
hicles are bad, and the intercourse in every respect 
Hmited, men are deprived of important incentives to 
exertion. The husbandman has little inducement to 
cultivate new land, or to improve his method of tillage, 
because the expense of transporting his produce to mar- 
ket will consume his profits. The mechanic and man- 
ufacturer, for the same reasons, have no motive for 
enlarging their operations, and hence, the community 
are but partially supplied with articles of convenience 
and luxury. Cheap and rapid transportation, by lessen- 
ing the cost of commodities, and enabling us to carry 
to market those of a perishable nature, increase the 
number of consumers, and thus multiply the enjoy- 
ments, while they stimulate the industry and enterprise, 
of men. It will generally be found, that nations im- 
prove, more or less rapidly, in proportion to the facili- 
ties which they enjoy for foreign and inland commerce. 
The remarks which we have to offer, on this subject, 
will naturally arrange themselves under the heads of I. 
The moving power employed in transportation ; 11. 
The vehicles ; III. The roads. We shall endeavor to 
point out the respective advantages and disadvantages 
of the different kinds of locomotion, and thus enable 
the reader to judge of their relative economy, conve- 
nience, &c. 

I. We are to speak of the moving power employed 



I 



MOVING POWER USED IN TRANSPORTATION. 231 

in transportation. The first, and generally the only, 
power, employed in a rude state of society, is that of a 
man carrying a load. We have already, in a former 
Chapter, said something of its disadvantages. It is, of 
all modes of transport, the most slow, expensive, and 
inconvenient. A man on foot could carry but about 
twenty-eight pounds from Albany to New York in nine 
days. A stagecoach can carry tw^o or more tons, over 
the same road, in two days ; and a steam-boat a much 
greater quantity in less than twelve hours ; so that, for 
all purposes of trade and intercourse, Albany is brought, 
by stagecoach, within a few miles of New York, com- 
pared with the rate on foot. Indeed, a package is now 
carried from New York to Albany as cheaply as it can 
be transported, on the back of a porter, from one part 
of Albany to another. There can be no doubt, there- 
fore, of the great advantages which horse-power has 
over human force. Nor is there more doubt of the su- 
periority of wind and steam power over that of the 
horse. Where animals are used, they must, besides 
the load which they carry, move the weight of their own 
body, and a great portion of their strength is thus em- 
ployed. This portion, too, is found to increase, at a 
rapid rate, with the velocity ; so that, beyond a moder- 
ate limit, advantage is lost, with every increase of speed ; 
and at certain rates, which are by no means high, all 
useful effects disappear, — the whole power of the animal 
being expended in transporting himself. In the steam- 
engine, on the contrary, speed does not diminish the 
efficiency of the moving power. A given quantity of 
steam, whether produced and expended slowly or quick- 
ly, will cost the same sum, and will perform nearly the 
same work. Whence it appears, that, with no greater 
expense than would be requisite, if we used horses, to 
secure a very moderate degree of speed, we can, by 
using steam, attain a rapidity greater than is ever at- 
tained by horses in draught. It is also worthy of re- 
mark, that, in a populous country, where the means of 
subsistence are dear, an immense quantity of food is 



232 LOCOMOTION. 

consumed by horses. It is computed, that there are 
about a milhon of horses employed in Great Britain, in 
the transport of passengers and goods ; and that, to 
support each horse requires as much land, as would, on 
an average, support eight men. 

Now, if this quantity of animal power were displaced 
by steam-engines, and the means of transport were 
draw^n from the bowels of the earth, instead of being 
raised upon its surface, then, supposing the above cal- 
culations correct, land sufficient for the support of an 
additional population of eight millions would become 
at once available for that purpose ; or, what amounts 
to the same thing, the means of support, for the pres- 
ent population, would be increased about one third. 
It ought not to be forgotten, however, that there are 
certain situations, as we shall see hereafter, in which 
steam-power cannot be introduced, and where the pow- 
er of the horse, therefore, must still be employed. — We 
proceed now to consider, 

II. Vehicles used in Transportation, — The earliest 
and simplest mode of conveying goods and passen- 
gers, as we have remarked, is to convey them by main 
strength. This mode is still practised, in some parts 
of the East ; but it has been succeeded, in more civil- 
ized countries, by vehicles moving on land or water. 
An animal, which cannot carry more than three hun- 
dred pounds, will draw eight times that amount in a 
cart, over a good road, and fifty times that amount, if 
placed in a boat on a canal. The most important ob- 
ject, to be attended to in the construction of these ve- 
hicles, is, to diminish resistance. On land, this resist- 
ance arises from friction between the moving body and 
the surface of the road. On water, it arises from the 
mass of fluid lying immediately before the boat, which 
must be pushed out of the way as the boat advances. 
Wheel Carriages. — 1. Various expedients have been 
recommended, for lessening the friction of solids mov- 
ing over each other. The effect of these expedients 
may be inferred, from the following experiment, which 



WHEEL CARRIAGES. 233 

has been made upon a block of squared stone, weigh- 
ing one thousand and eighty pounds. 

a. In order to drag this stone along the floor of the 
quarry, roughly chiseled, it required a force equal to 
seven hundred and fifty-eight pounds ; 

6. In order to put it in motion, when it was placed 
on rollers of three inches in diameter, it required but 
thirty-four ; 

c. To draw it on these rollers, over a wooden floor, 
it required twenty-eight. 

When the stone was mounted on a wooden plat- 
form, and the same rollers placed between that and a 
plank floor, it required twenty-two pounds ; from which 
it appears, that, in the first instance, the force necessa- 
ry to move the stone was nearly two thirds of its whole 
weight ; whereas, in the last case, it was only one fif- 
tieth, — making the same force thirty-five times more 
effective, in one case, than it was in the other, to say 
nothing now of the effect of smooth surfaces. Hence 
we see the great advantage which is obtained, by sub- 
stituting a rolling motion for a sliding one. This 
advantage is greatest where the rollers are separated 
from the heavy body to be moved, and are not con- 
strained, as in the common wagon or carriage, to 
move round a fixed axis : as when rollers are placed 
under a house to be moved. In the wheels used for 
carriages, the conversion of sliding into rolling is less 
complete, but is still of great advantage. The friction, 
in that case, is transferred from the surface of the road 
to the centre of the wheel, or rather to the place of 
contact between the axletree and the box of the wheel, 
and is of course diminished, in the proportion of the 
diameter of the axletree to the diameter of the wheel. 
The rolhng surfaces, also, being kept polished, and 
besmeared with some unctuous substance, are in the 
best possible condition to diminish friction. Moreover, 
when the wheel strikes against any abrupt obstacle in 
the road, such as a stone, it is converted into a lever, 
for lifting the load over the resisting object. If an 
20* 



234 LOCOMOTION. 

obstacle, eight or ten inches in height, were presented 
to the body of a carriage not supphed with wheels, 
it would stop its progress, or subject it to such violence, 
as would endanger its safety. But in the action of the 
wheel, the load is hfted, and its centre of gravity pas- 
ses over, in the direction of an easy arc, (the obstacle, 
representing the height of an inclined plane, along 
which this centre of gravity moves.) In short, the dif- 
ference in performing the same journey of a mile, by a 
sledge and a wheel carriage, is, that while the former 
rubs over every roughness in the road, and is jolted by 
every irregularity, the rubbing part of the latter, the 
axle, glides very slowly over a smooth oiled surface in 
a gently waving line. It is stated, by Dr. Arnott, that 
the resistance is thus reduced to the one hundredth part 
of what it is in the sledge. 

2. It must be obvious, from what we have said of 
the advantage gained by wheels, that those of a large 
size are in every respect preferable to small ones. 
They occasion less friction, and surmount obstacles 
more easily ; do not sink so far into holes and other 
depressions ; and their less frequent revolutions cause 
less wear to the wheels and less strain to the spokes. 

It must be remarked, however, that, in carriages 
drawn by animals, the diameter of the wheels must be 
limited by the direction of the draught. The draught 
is exerted most directly, and of course most powerfully, 
when its line is nearly horizontal. Hence, the axle 
should never be higher than the horse's breast ; and in 
practice, it is generally found expedient to have the 
point of draught a little lower. The reasons for this 
are, that, when a horse draws, since he does it princi- 
pally by his weight, he naturally leans forward, to de- 
press his breast ; and he also exerts a greater force, in 
proportion as the line of draught passes near the ful- 
crum, which is in his hind feet. Moreover, when he 
draws obliquely upward, a part of his force is employed 
in lessening the pressure of the load on the ground, and 
in diminishing the draught. 



VESSELS. 235 

3. The reader has probably observed^ that wheels are 
generally dished, to use the term of mechanics^ — that 
is, are made with spokes inclined inwards. The prin- 
cipal advantage of this form is, that when the carriage 
inclines, the lower spoke becomes vertical, and thus 
has the greatest strength at the moment when the 
strain is greatest. 

4. The fore wheels are made smaller than the hind 
ones, simply for the convenience of turning. In every 
other respect, the plan is disadvantageous, and is there- 
fore abandoned on rail-roads. The notion, that the 
higher wheels, behind, help to push forward the lower 
ones, before, is without any foundation. 

5. There has been much controversy, respecting the 
comparative utility of wheels having a broad or a nar- 
row circumference. In opposition to broad wheels it 
has been justly alleged, that they are heavier than nar- 
row ones, more expensive, and necessarily include in 
their path a greater number of obstacles. These disad- 
vantages seem to be more than counterbalanced, how- 
ever, in ordinary roads, by the ease with which they 
pass over rut holes ; the less depth to which they sink 
in a soft road ; and, above all, by their use in preserving 
and improving the road. 

6. The only other point, to which we shall attend, is, 
the use of springs. These were originally introduced 
merely for the comfort of the passenger, or to prevent 
the violent jolting of the load. It has been since found, 
that they are of no inconsiderable use, in diminishing 
the labor of draught. They lessen the shock which 
the animal experiences when the wheel suddenly strikes 
an obstacle ; allow the wheel to rise, without lifting the 
whole load ; and carry forward this load, by its own 
inertia, in a soft and steady advance. 

Vessels. — Owing to the facility with which particles 
of a liquid move among themselves, the water, which 
heaps up before a vessel moving through it, will easily 
be displaced : hence it is found, that, with moderate 
velocity, bodies can be moved through water with much 



236 LOCOMOTION. 

less force, than is requisite to move the same bodies on 
land. The resistance may be diminished, by giving a 
proper form to the vessel, as will appear from the fol- 
lowing considerations. Suppose an oblong square box, 
as Fig. 41, A B C D, to move through the water in the 
Pig 41. direction of its length, 

^ g the pressure will be in- 

\ creased before and di- 

"^^E minished behind, the 
water being heaped up 

D C just before the box, and 

depressed behind it, this effect increasing rapidly, as 
the velocity becomes greater. It is obvious, therefore, 
that the vessel will be resisted and retarded, by what 
is equivalent to two forces, namely, the increased pres- 
sure before, and the diminished pressure behind ; and 
if we suppose these two to be equal, the resistance will 
evidently be just double what would be occasioned by 
the elevation of the water at the anterior extremity. 
Now, this want of pressure behind may be obviated, 
by attaching to the hinder part of the box a tapering, or 
wedged-shaped, stem, A F D, which resembles, as near- 
ly as possible, the cavity left in the water by the ad- 
vancing body. This should be longer or shorter, in 
proportion as the velocity of the proposed vessel is in- 
tended to be great or small. 

With respect to the resistance before the moving 
body, it is to be remarked, that the most of the accu- 
mulated water divides and passes off by the sides ; an 
operation which will be assisted very much, if the shape 
of the bow be also like a wedge. Another reason why it 
should take this shape is, that, besides the water which 
passes off laterally, there is, when the moving body is 
square at the bow, a certain quantity of what is called 
dead water, pushed along in advance of it, nearly in 
the same manner as if it were a part of the body itself. 
It is evidently advantageous to occupy the place of 
this dead water with a bow, B E C, shaped, as nearly 
as possible, like it, and which must be lengthened, of 



I 



ROADS. 237 

course, in proportion to the velocity which we wish to 
gain. These observations will be sufficient to show the 
importance of constructing vessels very long, in propor- 
tion to their breadth ; especially if they are required to 
be fast sailers. With these remarks respecting vehicles, 
we proceed to consider, in the third place, 

III. Roads. — Comprehending, under this head, all 
routes which are used for the conveyance of goods 
and passengers, whether by land or by water, we pro- 
pose to consider the relative advantages of land and 
water conveyance, and afterwards to compare some 
of the land-roads most highly approved at the present 
day. 

1. In the case of small velocities, water-conveyance 
has great advantages over that of land. It has been 
ascertained, by experiments, that a horse, moving at the 
rate of three miles an hour, will draw, on a canal, eight 
times as much as he can draw, at the same rate, on the 
smoothest rail-road ; and since the resistance on a ca- 
nal, owing to its being narrow and shallow, is greater 
than in the open sea, it follows, that in large rivers and 
on the ocean the relative gain of power is still greater. 
As we have intimated, however, the superiority of wa- 
ter-conveyance exists only in the case of small velocities. 
A vessel, moving through water at the rate of three miles 
an hour, has to displace a certain quantity of water. If 
it moved at twice that velocity, or six miles an hour, it 
would have to displace twice as much water, and of 
course would require twice as much force to move it. 
But, in addition to this, owing to the increased speed 
of the boat, it must displace the water much more rap- 
idly, and therefore must strike it with much greater 
force. In the case mentioned above, the force, on this 
account alone, would have to be doubled ; and there- 
fore, owing to both causes, namely, the greater quantity 
to be moved, and the greater force requisite to move it 
fast enough^ tlie moving power must be quadrupled^ 
in order to have the velocity doubled : and, for the 
same reason, it must be increased nine times, in order 



238 LOCOMOTION. 

to have the velocity increased three times. Generally, 
the resistance to a body moving in water, and of course 
the power necessary to move it, increases, as the square 
of the velocity. It follows, therefore, that, in the case 
of bodies moving at the rate of nine miles an hour, the 
rail-road has some advantages over any conveyance by 
water ; and with higher velocities, it has a still greater 
advantage, which increases very fast, in proportion to 
the velocity. Its advantages over a canal are still 
greater, in such case, for two reasons : first the resist- 
ance increases faster in proportion to the velocity, in a 
canal, than it does in a broad river, or in the open sea, 
owing to the obstructions which the bottom presents to 
the displacing of the water ; and secondly, on a canal, 
a velocity greater than four or five miles occasions such 
injury to the banks, by the agitation of the water, that 
it is inadmissible. 

Hence we infer, that, in the case of velocities greater 
than six or eight miles, the rail-road is cheaper than 
the canal : whereas, with velocities of from two to four 
miles, the canal must always be the cheaper. In esti- 
mating the relative expense of different kinds of con- 
veyance, however, account must be taken of the orig- 
inal cost of construction, and also of the capabilities of 
the route for employing the various moving powers. 
Thus, the original expense of a canal is materially great- 
er than that of a rail-road : and, at the same time, no 
power, but that of horses, has yet been employed in 
moving boats upon it. Rivers have an advantage over 
either, inasmuch as they originally cost nothing, and 
admit the use, not only of steam-power, but also of 
winds and currents. On the other hand, however, it 
should be considered, that, in our climate, the naviga- 
tion of both rivers and canals must be suspended, for 
several weeks or months during the Winter season. 

2. In considering the different kinds of land-convey- 
ance, and their relative advantages, we have only room 
to notice the two most prominent roads now in use, and 
which are, at present, the subject of frequent compar- 



ROADS. 239 

ison, namely, McAdam and other stone roads, and 
Rail-roads. After a variety of experiments, it seems 
pretty well ascertained, that the power necessary to 
draw or impel a load, on a horizontal McAdam road, 
is at least eight times as great, as would be required to 
move the same load, on a level rail-road. It is obvious, 
therefore, that when a rail-road is level, it must have 
important advantages over the best road which can be 
formed of stone. The force of traction or impulsion, 
in such case, is but about the two hundred and for- 
tieth part of the load drawn. When the level changes, 
however, the force of traction requisite increases, very 
rapidly. For example, if the road rises one foot in two 
hundred and forty, the tendency, from gravity, of the 
load to descend, would just equal the force previously 
necessary to draw or impel it on a level ; so that the 
force of traction would have to be doubled. To carry 
it up a plane, rising one foot in a hundred and twenty, 
the moving power must be trebled ; and quadrupled, 
to carry it up a plane, rising one foot in eighty. 

From this, it is obvious, that the agent employed as 
a propelling power, on a rail-road having inclinations 
on it, must be susceptible of varying its energies within 
very wide limits : and this is one of the greatest prac- 
tical difficulties with which the rail-road system has to 
contend. On a stone road, the increase in the power 
required by an ascent is absolutely just as great, as 
would be required by the same ascent on a rail-road ; 
but not relatively so great: for on a stone road, the 
power requisite, even on a level, is so considerable, that 
the increase caused by an elevation is no material ad- 
dition ; whereas, on a level rail-road, the power of trac- 
tion is so inconsiderable, that the increase produced by 
the smallest inclination is severely felt. 

This great variation, which is required in the propel- 
ling power used in rail-roads not level, has suggested 
the employment of stationary engines, at the principal 
points of elevation. As this, however, is expensive and 
inconvenient, another expedient proposed is, to main- 



240 LOCOMOTION. 

tain a perfect level in the construction of the road. 
To effect this object requires, in most cases, a very 
large expenditure of capital. The great expense of 
construction, under any circumstances, renders it nec- 
essary that the line, connecting the principal points of 
intercourse, should be as short as possible. Hence 
arises the necessity of deviating very little from a straight 
course. Valleys must therefore be traversed by en- 
bankments or viaducts ; hills intersected by artificial 
chasms. A turnpike-road, on the other hand, may be 
carried in a winding course through an undulating 
country, avoiding hills of great acclivity, and, though 
the length be increased, yet the expenditure of moving 
power will be diminished. 

Of the changes which have taken place in the state 
of society during the last century, not a few are to be 
attributed to the improved state of communication, both 
by land and water. Among the ancients, no nation 
seems to have appreciated the importance of having 
good roads. The Romans constructed them on a mag- 
nificent scale, for military purposes ; and they derived 
from them, without doubt, very important, though inci- 
dental, advantages, of a commercial and social kind. 
But even in that country, the ordinary facilities for trav- 
elling and transport were vastly inferior to those which 
exist at the present day. Cicero speaks of a messenger, 
who w^s forty-seven days in going from Rome to his 
government in Cilicia, in Asia Minor, a distance, which 
could be easily traversed, now, in less than a quarter of 
the time. To carry letters from Rome to Gibraltar 
then required a period of forty days. In 1839, trav- 
ellers came from London to Niagara Falls in sixteen 
days ; and, in 1840, from Liverpool to Boston in twelve 
days. The state of the roads in England, as late as the 
reign of Elizabeth, may be inferred from the following 
fact, recorded in the despatches of La Mothe Fenelon, 
who was at the time residing in London, as French 
ambassador. Intelligence of a rebellion, which broke 
out in Yorkshire, on the fifteenth of November, did not 



ROADS. 241 

reach London till seven days after. The same distance 
is now traversed, by coach, over the common road, in 
twenty-four hours.* 

It is impossible, in a work like the present, to specify 
all the consequences which flow from opening and 
multiplying the channels for human business and in- 
tercourse. Distant villages and provinces are brought 
nearer the capital. Nations, that were formerly stran- 
gers, and gazed at each other with coldness and suspi- 
cion, are now, by the constant and famihar intercourse 
of their citizens, almost merged into one. Misappre- 
hensions, founded in ignorance and prejudice, are suc- 
ceeded by the interchange of friendly offices, and active 
commerce.! Vast regions, not many years since sterile 
and neglected, have been transformed, as if by some 
magic influence, into cultivated fields and smihng land- 
scapes. Of the powerful influence, which the opening 
of good roads has in awakening enterprise and improv- 
ing the condition of a people, the following are striking, 
but by no means solitary, examples. 

^^In the Highlands of Scotland, at the beginning of 
the present century, the communication from one dis- 
trict to another was attended with such difficulty and 
danger, that some of the counties were excused from 
sending jurors to the circuit, to assist in the administra- 
tion of justice. The poor people inhabiting these dis- 
tricts were almost entirely cut off* from intercourse with 
the rest of mankind. The Highlands were of less advan- 
tage to the British empire, than the most distant colony. 
Parliament resolved to remedy the evil ; and according- 
ly, from 1802 to 1817, the sum of two hundred thous- 
and pounds was laid out, in making roads and bridges 
in these mountainous districts. Mark the important 
consequences to the people of the Highlands, as de- 
scribed by Mr. Telford, the engineer of the roads. 

" In these works, and in the Caledonian canal, about 

* See Appendix, IX. 
t See Appendix, X. 

21 S. A. 



242 LOCOMOTION. 

three thousand two hundred men have been annually 
employed. At first, they could scarcely work at all ; 
they were totally unacquainted with labor ; they could 
not use the tools ; but they have since become excellent 
laborers ; of that number, we consider that one fourth 
left us annually, taught to work. These w^orks may be 
considered in the light of a w^orking academy, from 
which eight hundred have annually departed, improved 
workmen. These men have either returned to their 
native districts, having had the experience of using the 
most perfect sorts of tools and utensils, (which alone 
cannot be considered as less than ten per cent, on any 
labor,) or they have been usefully disseminated through- 
out the country. Since these roads were made acces- 
sible, wheelwrights and cartwrights have been establish- 
ed, the plough has been introduced, and improved tools 
and utensils are used. The plough was not previously 
used in general : in the interior and mountainous parts, 
they frequently used crooked sticks, with iron on them, 
drawn or pushed along. The moral habits of the great 
mass of the working classes are changed ; they see that 
they may depend on their own exertions for support ; 
this goes on silently, and is scarcely perceived, until 
apparent by the results. I consider these improve- 
ments some of the greatest blessings ever conferred on 
any country. About two hundred thousand pounds 
have been granted, in fifteen years. It has been the 
means of advancing the country at least one hundred 
years." There are many parts of Ireland which sus- 
tain the same miseries and inconveniences from the 
want of roads, as the Highlands of Scotland did at the 
beginning of the present century. In 1823, Mr. Nimmo, 
the engineer, stated to Parliament, that the fertile plains 
of Limerick, Cork, and Kerry, were separated from 
each other by a deserted country, presenting an impas- 
sable barrier between them. This country was the re- 
treat of smugglers, robbers, and culprits of every de- 
scription. According to another engineer, Mr. Griffith, 
this tract, in 1824, was a wild, neglected, and deserted, 



STEAM-BOAT CONVEYANCE. 243 

country, without roads, culture, or civilization. The 
government ordered roads to be made through this bar- 
ren district. In 1829, in less than five years after the 
commencement of the roads, Mr. Griffith thus describes 
the change which had been produced : '^ A very con- 
siderable improvement has already taken place in the 
vicinity of the roads, both in the industry of the inhab- 
itants and the appearance of the country. At the com- 
mencement of the works, the people flocked into them, 
seeking employment, at any rate ; their looks haggard, 
their clothing wretched ; they rarely possessed any 
tools or implements, beyond a small, ill-shaped spade ; 
and nearly the whole face of the country was unim- 
proved. Since the completion of the roads, rapid 
strides have been made ; upwards of sixty new lime- 
kilns have been built ; carts, ploughs, harrows, and im- 
proved implements, have become common ; new houses 
of a better class have been built, new enclosures made, 
and the country has become perfectly tranquil, and ex- 
hibits a scene of industry and exertion, at once pleasing 
and remarkable. A large portion of the money receiv- 
ed for labor has been husbanded with care, laid out in 
building substantial houses, and in the purchase of stock 
and agricultural implements ; and numerous examples 
might be shown, of poor laborers, possessing neither 
money, houses, nor lands, when first employed, who, in 
the past year, have been enabled to take farms, build 
houses, and stock their lands." 

'' How has the expedition of steam-boat conveyance" 
says Gordon '' increased the productive industry and 
happiness of the land ? It has brought the Scotch farm- 
er's cattle, fat and fresh, to the London butcher. It 
has brought the cotton manufacturer of Dundee nearer 
to London than the manufacturer at Manchester is. 
The northern producer and the southern consumer are 
closer together. Our notions of space, despatch, and 
distance, have been completely altered. Instead of 
measuring by miles, we compute by hours. Dublin is 
brought within eighty hours of London, instead of be- 



244 LOCOMOTION^ 

ing sixteen days distant. Edinburgh is within forty 
hours of London, instead of being eight days distant : 
but we cannot enumerate the various radiating hues 
to which London is the centre. These Hues have all 
been shortened, at least one half, and the energies of the 
kingdom are thus more compacted and concentrated." 

Until within a very recent period, the use of steam 
has been confined to the navigation of rivers and bays, 
or, at nK)st, to sheltered seas, at no great distance from 
land. But now, steam-ships traverse the broad Atlan- 
tic, with a confidence and safety, equal and even superi- 
or to that of the best ships moved by the winds. Com- 
munication between the old and new world is thus ren- 
dered not only frequent and rapid, but regular. The 
royal mail steam-ships pass in each direction between 
Liverpool and Boston every month, (and, after the year 
1840, they will go twice, monthly,) with an exactness 
in the time of departure, and almost in that of arrival, 
equal to that of the mail between two contiguous towns. 
A similar system of mail communication is established 
from England to the West-India Islands and South 
America, and also to many parts of the Eastern conti- 
nent, especially to every part of the British possessions. 
By the overland mail from India, which is conveyed by 
steamboats from Bombay to Suez, and from Alexandria 
to Europe, intelligence is received in England in a lit- 
tle more than two months, and in this country in three 
months, from its date in Bombay. 

Recent improvements in rail-roads and locomotive 
engines have, in like manner, added greatly to the speed 
and comfort of inland travelling. It is within the recol- 
lection of persons now living, when the journey from 
Boston to New York, with the best facilities of the time, 
occupied six days of diligent travelling, and the first 
line of stagecoaches, established at a somewhat later 
period, occupied four entire days. Now, the same dis- 
tance is traversed, by several routes, in from twelve to 
fifteen hours. A train of cars arrives daily at Norwich, 
via Worcester, from Boston, a distance of one hundred 



RAIL-ROAD CONVEYANCE. 245 

and four miles^ in four and a half hours, and the pas- 
sage from Norwich to New York is completed in about 
eight hours. The passage by the way of Providence 
and Stonington is accomplished with equal speed. 

The same rapidity of communication by rail-road is 
extended from Boston into New Hampshire ; to Ports- 
mouth, by the way of Salem and Newburyport ; to Exe- 
ter, by the way of Andover ; and to Nashua, by the way 
of Lowell ; and each line of road is likely, at no great 
distance of time, to be still further extended. The 
Western rail-road is in active operation from Boston to 
Springfield, on Connecticut river, and will soon be fin- 
ished to Albany, New York ; where it will connect itself 
with a series of rail-roads, much of which is complet- 
ed and the remainder nearly so, to Buffalo. So that it 
is confidently predicted, that, within a very few years, 
there will be a rapid steam communication, nearly all * 
by rail-roads, between Boston, on the northeastern 
Atlantic coast, and St. Louis, on the Mississippi river. 
Almost every other part of the United States is in like 
manner traversed by rail-roads, either finished or in 
progress. From New York to Philadelphia, as well as 
extensively in the interior of Pennsylvania ; from Phil- 
adelphia to Baltimore and Washington ; and from these 
two cities to Richmond, Virginia, and thence to Charles- 
ton, South Carolina, and Savannah, in Georgia : and 
from several of the Atlantic cities to the valley of the 
Ohio and Mississippi ; the same, or nearly the same, 
facilities for swift and easy communication are found ; 
or are in a state of active preparation. The journey 
from New Orleans to Boston is now made in about one 
fourth of the time, and with less than one tenth of the 
fatigue and risk, that it required only a very few years 
ago. 

Not only are the facilities for travelling, and for the 
conveyance of information and of merchandise, steadily 
increasing, by the rapid extension of the roads them- 
selves, but the improvements, which are made in their 
construction, and in that of the locomotive engines and 
21=* 



246 THE PROGRESS OF THE ARTS. 

cars, add constantly to their speed, as well as to their 
safety and comfort. Two or three years since, fifteen 
miles an hour was thought exceedingly rapid travelhng ; 
now, a rate of more than twenty miles an hour is main- 
tained, habitually, on many roads in this country ; and 
on the London and Birmingham rail-road, one hundred 
and twelve miles, they travel regularly at the rate of 
twenty-three or twenty-four miles an hour. An express 
has been carried from Worcester to Boston, forty-five 
miles, at the rate of thirty miles an hour ; and on the 
Great Western rail-road in England, expresses have been 
carried at the rate of sixty miles, and it is reported, even 
at the rate of seventy-eight miles, an hour. 

It is not improbable that considerable accelerations 
will also be made, at no great distance of time, to the 
speed of steam-boats. Some recent experiments, with 
Mr. Smith's Archimedean Screw, and with Captain 
Ericson's Propeller, seem to promise great advantages, 
both in respect to the speed, and to the safety and fa- 
cility of management, of steam-vessels. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

THE PROGRESS OF THE ARTS. 

In treating of the Arts, we have already made some 
remarks on the improvements which they have severally 
undergone, and the influence of these improvements, in 
augmenting the physical, and even the intellectual, en- 
joyments of mankind. It would be interesting, to trace 
these progressive improvements more accurately, from 
step to step ; to show in what manner, and at what 
times, they arose; and to survey the comparative 
amount of domestic and personal comfort which has 
been enjoyed among civilized nations, at different pe- 
riods of the world. The steps, by which man has thus 
gradually risen to a dominion over Nature, form one 



THE PROGRESS OF THE ARTS. 247 

of the most interesting, and, at the same time, one of 
the most neglected, subjects of history. Dazzled by 
the splendor of courts, and by the pomp and perils of 
war, historians have generally lost sight of the most 
permanent and powerful causes of human welfare. 
Their works, too often, have been but scandalous me- 
moirs ; memoirs of the crimes and follies of the great, and 
of the subserviency and degradation of the multitude. 
With how much more of profit and interest should we 
peruse them, if they conducted us into the habitations 
and assemblies of the people; if they made us ac- 
quainted with the customs, employments, and mode 
of life, prevailing there ; if, by describing their furni- 
ture, implements, and habits of living, they introduced 
us, as it were, into their presence, and enabled us to 
estimate their knowledge of the arts. We know, in- 
deed, no literary enterprise, which promises more for 
its author and the public, than what may be termed a 
Material History of our race, — a history, which, from 
the rich materials scattered through the poets and an- 
nalists of former ages, should draw a connected picture 
of civilized life, as that life has been varied, and, from 
age to age, improved, by the useful arts. Such a work 
would disclose the powerful influence which these arts 
exert, not only on the physical, but also on the moral 
and intellectual well-being of man. It would show, 
that civilization is the work, not of music or of playing 
on the flute, as the Athenian hero said, but of that In- 
dustry, which turns a small city into a great one. It 
would bring, also, into broad relief, the agency which 
Knowledge exerts, in augmenting human power and 
happiness ; and would enable us to contrast our own 
condition, in these respects, with that of our distant 
ancestors. It would show how modern civilization has 
been modified by the industrious orders of society, and 
would enforce, with new solemnity and emphasis, the 
momentous truth, that on their intelligence and virtue 
depend the best interests of mankind. Referring the 
reader, for some details on this subject, to an article in 



248 THE PROGRESS OF THE ARTS. 

the Appendix,* I shall in this place content myself 
with pointing out what I conceive to be the leading 
feature of modern, as distinguished from ancient, art, 
and suggesting some of the consequences, to which the 
change has given rise. 

The leading feature, which has characterized mod- 
ern improvements in art, especially within the last 
century, is, the substitution of intelligence for mere 
physical force ; the power of knowledge for the poiver 
of muscle. The ancients were comparatively ignorant 
of the laws of Nature. They knew too little, either 
of the properties of bodies, or of the laws of motion, to 
accomplish much by machinery or artificial processes. 
Hence their reliance was placed mainly upon mere 
strength. Whatever could be effected by the patient 
industry of individuals, or by the combined force of 
multitudes, was effected by them ; and accordingly 
their temples, arches, and military works still stand, 
unrivalled monuments of munificence and patient toil. 
But these very works were deficient in many of the 
conveniences which are possessed by the humblest 
modern edifices ; and were reared by laborers who 
lived in a style, compared with which, that of the mod- 
ern laborer is one of splendor and opulence. In mod- 
ern times, the nature of inanimate forces has been 
carefully studied. Mechanical contrivances, to adapt 
them to useful purposes, have been multiplied with 
astonishing rapidity ; and, availing ourselves of these, 
we now attain our ends, not so much by the mere 
strength of our bodies, as by the skill and resources of 
our minds. The ancients, unable to supply the ever- 
multiplying wants of our physical nature, inculcated 
the necessity of diminishing these wants, and practis- 
ing a rigid self-denial. The moderns, on the contrary, 
believing that there is no limit to the powers of the 
natural world, nor of man's inventive genius, rather in- 
vite and create new wants, that they may devise the 
means of a prompt and cheap supply. In one word, 
* See Appendix, VI. 



THE PROGRESS OF THE ARTS. 249 

ancient art was the offspring of necessity ; grew up 
from random trials and experiments ; confined its op- 
erations to a narrow circle; and was encumbered by 
many absurd and unnecessary details. Modern art, 
on the other hand, is the offspring of science, and, un- 
der its guidance, has sought out the shortest and sim- 
plest route to its ends ; pushed its labors into every de- 
partment of the material world ; and reduced to some- 
thing like order the processes in every branch of hu- 
man industry. 

What have been the effects of this change ? 1. The 
first one entitled to notice is, the diminished respect 
which is every where felt for mere physical power, and 
the increased regard which is paid to intellect and 
knowledge. The time was, when individuals were 
rated very much according to their bodily prowess, 
and when nations rested their claims to glory and pre- ^ 
eminence almost exclusively on the number and har- 
dihood of their soldier-subjects. But in this age, it is 
far otherwise. Even in war, success is achieved, now, 
far more by science and skill than by the mere physical 
force of armies. In the various pursuits of industry, 
as well as in the learned professions, ascendency is pro- 
cured entirely by talents and learning. No matter how 
poor and contemptible in his outward presence, or how 
deficient in muscular strength, the lawyer or the artist, 
who excels in the knowledge which pertains to his pro- 
fession, and in the power of applying that knowledge, 
promptly and skilfully, to each new occasion as it 
arises, will most assuredly excel in the acquisition of 
wealth, fame, and influence. It has been true, in every 
age of the world, that knowledge is power ; but never 
was this so emphatically true, as at present. In pro- 
portion as the human mind is enlightened, it learns its 
own dignity ; discovers the magic influence conferred 
by science on its possessor ; and comes to rate, at some- 
thing like their real value, those humble attributes 
which it possesses in common with the brutes. 

2. Another effect of this application of science to the 



250 THE PROGRESS OF THE ARTS. 

useful arts, and one kindred to that first mentioned, is, 
the more thorough and skilful combination of theory 
with practice, in other departments of life. It is a 
striking, and by some has been regarded as the essen- 
tial, characteristic of this age, that we view science and 
experience together as parts of one whole, and strive 
to make them move side by side. We employ expe- 
rience to verify and correct the deductions of theory, 
and theory again to enlarge and systematize the obser- 
vations of experience. But down to the present time, 
these two interests have lived apart ; have taken differ- 
ent routes ; have been unknown to each other ; or, if 
not unknown, have rarely met in order to cooperate. 
When, for example, general principles or doctrines 
have at any time proposed to intermeddle with the 
affairs of government, they have rarely been able, says 
Guizot, to effect it, ^^ except under the appearance and 
by the aid of fanaticism. On the one side, have been 
mere theorists, — enthusiasts, who would direct every 
thing according to abstract notions ; on the other, men 
ignorant of all great and comprehensive principles, — 
experimentalists, whose only guide was expediency. 
This state of things is happily drawing to a close. The 
world is less ready than it once was, to agitate for the 
sake of some abstract principle, some fanciful theory, 
some Utopian government, which can only exist in the 
imagination of the enthusiast ; but, on the other hand, it 
is by no means disposed to put up with practical abuses 
and oppressions, however favored by prescription and 
expediency, where they are opposed to the just princi- 
ples and the legitimate end of government. To insure 
respect and confidence now, statesmen, — nor they only, 
but all who in any department undertake to direct 
important interests, — must unite theory and practice. 
They must understand and acknowledge the influence 
of both. They must regard, as well principles as facts ; 
must respect both truth and necessity ; must shun, on 
one hand, the blind pride of the fanatical theorist, and, 
on the other, the no less blind pride of the libertine 



THE PROGRESS OF THE ARTS. 251 

practician." To this better state of things, which is 
observable not only in matters of government, but also 
in education, in the labors of practical benevolence, in 
the concerns of domestic and public economy, various 
causes have conduced. But to my mind, one of the 
main, if not the main, cause of this improvement, will 
be found in the example, which, after the publication 
of the ^ Novum Organum,'^ was so early set, of blend- 
ing physical science with the labors of industry. The 
immense advantages, as well to philosophy as to practi- 
cal life, which resulted from this union, could hardly 
have been lost on men in other pursuits. But add to 
this, the habits, which were thus formed, of consider- 
ing every subject in connexion with all the various cir- 
cumstances and principles that affect it ; of so calculat- 
ing, combining, and opposing them, that, while the 
everlasting principle was placed boldly and prominent- 
ly forward, so as not to be mistaken, care was also 
taken, that it should not be endangered ; that its pro- 
gress should not be retarded by a negligent or rash 
estimate of the circumstances which oppose it, — habits 
which would naturally be transferred to other pursuits, 
and thus become the usage and spirit of the investigat- 
ing and reflecting world. f 

3. Another effect of this change in the arts is, to 
render them more respectable. Among the ancients, 
the various handicrafts were thought too degrading and 
servile, to be practised by any save slaves and women. 
The processes were performed, as we have already 
said, with little regard to principles ; and when an im- 
provement was made, it was regarded as a sort of mys- 
tery or charm, to be concealed from the vulgar eye, 
and practised only by adepts. Gradually, however, as 
war engrossed less attention, and a more decided taste 
for physical conveniences and luxuries began to prevail, 

* A work by Lord Bacon, entitled, * JVovum Organum Scientia- 
rum,' or a new method of employing the reasoning faculties in the 
pursuit of truth. 

t See Appendix, XI. 



252 THE PROGRESS OF THE ARTS. 

the useful arts rose in human estimation, and command- 
ed the services of freemen, who formed a distinct class 
of society, and exercised considerable political influ- 
ence. It was not, however, till within the past cen- 
tury, that these arts began to occupy their proper place. 
During this period, science has come forth from the 
cloisters in which she had been previously buried. Re- 
cognising the gi-eat truth, first taught by Bacon, that 
^^ the end of all science is to enrich human life with 
useful inventions and arts," she has employed herself 
in studying and improving the processes of the shop 
and the manufactory. The finest minds, in the most 
elevated classes of society, think it no degradation, 
now, to be employed in superintending such opera- 
tions. To have at their control the mighty and won- 
der-working energies of Nature is, they think, as high 
a prerogative, as to wield a disputed and imperfect 
sway over their fellowmen. Engaged in contributing, 
in no humble degree, to the power and resources of 
their country, in creating and diflusing the means of 
individual enjoyment, and in enlarging the dominion 
of their race over the world of matter, they think them- 
selves entitled (and justly, too) to take rank with the 
members of any other profession. It should not be 
omitted, here, that, as a class, the mechanics and man- 
ufacturers hold the balance between other important 
interests ; and that, in the history of this country, they 
have ever been found exercising a commanding influ- 
ence in favor of an independent, united, and constitu- 
tional, government. 

4. Another effect of the improvements, which have 
taken place in the useful arts, is one to which we have 
often adverted, already ; that is, they greatly increase 
the physical enjoyments of mankind. And this effect 
is by no means to be despised.*" The happiness of a 

* It is not unusual, even now, — formerly, it was very customary, — 
to regard an increase of comforts as indicative of effeminacy, or as 
tending to it. "A story is told of a Highland chief. Sir Evan Came- 
ron, that himself and a party of his followers being benighted, and 



THE PROGRESS OF THE ARTS. 253 

being, constituted as man is, depends not a little on 
his food, raiment, furniture, implements, &c. When 
these are abundant, and of good quality, they not only 
satisfy the cravings of appetite, but serve, also, to re- 
move many temptations to sensuality and crime ; afford 
leisure for intellectual improvement ; and, by exercising 
thought, and gratifying taste, tend to refine and exalt 
the whole man. Hence it becomes an object of high 
importance to secure, for the mass of a people, the 
greatest possible amount of physical comforts, provided 
they are the fruit of their own industry and intelli- 
gence ; and this has been one of the most signal bene- 
fits conferred on mankind by modern art. One cannot 
contrast the habitations, dress, and style of living, which 
now prevail, in this and most other countries, wdth those 
which prevailed even only fifty years since, without be- 
ing astonished at the improvements which have taken 
place. The change is such, that, were society to de- 
prive itself of its new luxuries and conveniences, and 
return to the condition in which it was at that period, 
it would suffer both moral and physical degradation. 
It is stated, for instance, by a late writer, that he can 

compelled to sleep in the open air, when his son rolled up a ball of 
snow and laid his head upon it for a pillow, the rough old man kick- 
ed it away, exclaiming, 'What, sir, are you turning effeminate?' 
We doubt whether Sir Evan Cameron and his men were braver than 
the English officers who fought at Waterloo ; and yet many of these 
marched from the ball-room at Brussels, in their holyday attire, and 
won the battle in silk stockings. It is an old notion, that plenty of 
the necessaries and conveniences of life renders a nation feeble. We 
are told that the Carthaginian soldiers, whom Hannibal carried into 
Italy, were suddenly rendered effeminate by the abundance which 
they found around them at Capua. The commissariat of modern na- 
tions goes upon another principle ; and believes, that, unless the sol- 
dier has plenty of food and clothing, he will not fight with alacrity 
and steadiness. The half-starved soldiers of Henry the Fifth won 
the battle of Agincourt ; but it was not because they were half-starv- 
ed, but because they roused their native courage to cut their way 
out of the peril by which they were surrounded. When we hear of 
ancient nations being enervated by abundance, we may be sure, that 
the abundance was almost entirely devoured by a few tyrants, and 
that the bulk of the poor were rendered weak by destitution." — 
Rights of Industry. 

22 s. A. 



254 THE PROGRESS OF THE ARTS. 

remember when the first carpet and the first umbrella 
were seen in a town Uttle more than one hundred miles 
from London, and that, not more than fifty-five years 
ago ; that in the most respectable dwellings in the 
country villages of England, stone or brick floors were, 
at that time, almost the only ones in use ; that the cot- 
tages of the peasantry were almost universally without 
flooring, or plaster, or ceihng ; and that, in houses where 
glass tumblers, earthen-ware dishes, and knives and 
forks, are now regarded as absolutely indispensable, 
they had then no drinking-cups, except those made of 
tin or horn ; scarcely any dishes, except the wooden 
trencher ; used, in many cases, a lock of wool as a sub- 
stitute for a fork, and benches and jointstools in the 
place of chairs and tables. 

It is little more than a century, since the ordinary 
state of one of the most frequented roads in England 
was such, that it took Prince George of Denmark, v^iio 
was on his way to meet the King of Spain, near Ports- 
mouth, six hours, to travel, by coach, a distance of nine 
miles ; and then the coach, as the Annalist states, had 
to be '' poised by the nimble boors of Sussex," who fre- 
quently bore it almost on their shoulders, to save it from 
being overturned or stuck fast in the mire. 

If we go back to the reign of Elizabeth, — associated 
in our minds with splendid processions and gorgeous 
festivals ; when nobles kept on foot several hundred 
retainers and followers ; when her Majesty ransacked 
Europe, and even Asia, for the materials of her ward- 
robe ; when Burleigh counselled, and Leicester in- 
trigued, and Raleigh planned, and Bacon, like anoth- 
er Moses, pointed out to scholars the way to their land 
of promise ; and Spenser, and Sidney, and Shakspeare, 
poured forth the strains which still vibrate in our ears 
and on our hearts, — what, at that brilhant epoch, were 
the domestic accommodations of the people, and even 
of the high-born and high-bred gentry, of the land? 
We have all heard of the substantial breakfasts of her 
Majesty's maids of honor, on beef and ale ; but it has 



THE PROGRESS OF THE ARTS. 255 

not occurred to us, perhaps, that these materials were 
used, not only at that repast, but also at noonday and 
evening, for the simple reason, that there was nothing 
else for them. The favorite beverage of the sex, in our 
age, was then unknown. The vegetables, which now 
load the tables of every class, had not been introduced 
into ordinary culture ; and it was only the most opu- 
lent, who could afford the luxury, even of a potato, or 
a radish. Women of the best condition subsisted on 
oat and rye bread, and pottage ; and not even royalty 
itself was indulged with what is now rarely denied to 
the beggar, — that is, knit hose, or stockings, while the 
raiment, furniture, and houses, of the most respectable 
commonalty, were such as the parish pauper of the 
nineteenth century would consider insufferable. And 
yet this reign was considered, by those who had known 
England in former ones, as remarkable for its luxuries. 
In the discourse prefixed to Hollingshed's Chronicle, 
which was published in this reign, the old men are de- 
scribed as mourning bitterly over the degeneracy of the 
times. There were three things, especially, which, in 
their estimation, were marvellously altered for the worse, 
since their young days ; — '^ The first was, the multitude 
of chimneys lately erected ; whereas," say they, " in 
our young days, there were but two or three, if so many, 
in most uplandish towns of the realm ; the religious 
houses and manor houses of their lords always excepted. 
But each made his fire against a rere dosse in the hall 
where he dined and dressed his meat, the smoke find- 
ing its way out as it could." The second was the great 
alteration in lodging; ^' for," say they, ^^ our fathers and 
ourselves have lain full oft on straw pallets, covered 
only with a sheet, under coverlets of dagswaine, and a 
good round log under our head, as a bolster. If it were 
so that the father or good man of the house had a mat- 
trass or flock bed, and thereon a sack of chaff, to rest 
his head upon, he thought himself as well lodged as the 
lord of the town." Pillows were thought fit only for 
sick women ; and the author himself, as we have seen 



956 THE PROGRESS OF THE ARTS. 

in a former Chapter, complains most pathetically, that 
'' nothing was then required for building houses, but 
oak ; for," says he, " when our houses were built of 
willow, then we had oaken men ; but now that our 
houses are come to be made of oak, our men are not on- 
ly become willow, but a great many altogether straw." 

Such was Hfe in England, in the days of the Re- 
formation ; and what was it, think we, in earlier and 
darker days, before religious and intellectual freedom 
gave impulse to the spirit of improvement ; before the 
invention of the printing-press and the mariner's com- 
pass, those prime movers of civilization ; when the pack- 
horse was the only vehicle of commerce, and cloth was 
spun and woven, and grain was ground, and the earth 
tilled, and metals worked, entirely by hand ? Yes, if 
we would measure the influence of the useful arts, we 
must go back to Greece ; and there, even in her high 
and palmy state, when every grove was sacred to phi- 
losophy and the muses ; when every hill top was crowned 
with monuments of taste and beauty, which will be the 
wonder of all ages ; when Pericles touched with mas- 
ter hand the springs of popular feeling, and wielded, at 
will, the fierce democracy ; even there, and then, you 
will meet a people, who, in the language of the learned 
Gopret, were little skilled in providing conveniences : 
who were unacquainted with the use of linen, or shoes, 
or stockings ; whose coats had neither buttons nor but- 
ton holes ; who knew the use, neither of stirrups, to 
mount, nor of saddles, to keep themselves on horseback ; 
who were ignorant of the art of lighting themselves by 
the use of wax or tallow ; and had neither wind nor 
water mills, nor clockwork, nor telescopes, nor chemical 
fluxes.^ 

5. Another effect of these improvements in the arts 
is, an increased economy. When the use of artificial 
products was confined, in a great measure, to the rich, 
and but few persons were engaged in manufacturing 

* See Appendix, VI. 



THE PROGRESS OF THE ARTS. 257 

them, there was httle occasion to study economy. 
But now, when the mass of the community seek to en- 
joy these products, it is all important to make them 
cheap ; and, at the same time, such keen competition 
prevails, among the makers of any article, that nothing 
but the utmost economy, in conducting every part of 
the manufacture, will enable an individual to secure a 
market, and yet command an adequate profit. It has 
accordingly become one great aim of the artisan, in 
conducting his business, '• to gather up the fragments, 
that nothing be lost." In respect to labor and time, 
this is accomplished by the use of machinery ; by the 
substitution of artificial for slower natural processes ; 
and also by a device called the division of labor, which 
consists in such a distribution of the several parts of an 
operation, among workmen of different ages and ca- . 
pacities, that each one shall have constant occupation 
for all his powers, and, by being confined to the same 
work, shall acquire greatly-increased dexterity, while 
he also saves the time which would be lost in passing 
from one thing to another. In respect to materials, 
also, amazing progress has been made in economy. 
We seem to be approaching a time, when valuable use 
will be found for every thing, however vile and appa- 
rently worthless. Take rags, for example. When they 
have ceased to be fit covering even for the beggar, and 
are cast out, loaded with filth, they are carefully collect- 
ed, transported as precious freight from one country to 
another, and, after being washed and bleached, and 
subjected to the operation of cutters and presses, come 
forth a beautiful white fabric, ready to receive and 
transmit to distant places or ages, the records of wis- 
dom, or the messages of business, or the confidential 
breathings of friendship. So bones and offal, which 
have been thrown into the streets, are picked up, and 
carried to the sal-ammoniac factory, where, after being 
boiled, distilled, &c., they yield grease for soap ; an oil, 
which, on being burned in close apartments, deposits 
the black soot called lampblack ; and afford; at the same 
22^ 



258 THE PROGRESS OF THE ARTS. 

time, the carbonate of ammonia, or hartshorn, the sul- 
phate of soda, or Glauber's salt, and lastly, sal-ammo- 
niac, or muriate of ammonia. Horns, which are at- 
tached to hides when purchased by the tanner, are sep- 
arated, sold to the makers of combs and lanterns, who 
extract combs from one part ; knife handles, the tops 
of whips, &c., from another ; glue, again, from another ; 
fat for soap, from another ; the transparent part of lan- 
terns, from another ; and, finally, by grinding down the 
bony substance, which remains after all these operations, 
they have a manure, which they sell to the farmer. It 
would be easy to multiply examples of this kind, to any 
extent. The prussiate of potash, a beautiful crystallized 
mineral, which is seen in the shops of the chemist, is pro- 
duced from the hoofs of horses and cattle ; a black 
dye, for the use of calico printers, is extracted from old 
tin kettles and worn-out coal scuttles ; bread, which, 
though not very palatable, is still nutritious and digest- 
ible, and by no means disagreeable, has been obtained 
from sawdust ! and linen rags, mixed with a common 
acid, have been made, by chemists, to yield more than 
their own weight of sugar. 

Such are some of the effects produced by a more 
systematic and general application of science to the 
arts. They are, indeed, astonishing. Had they been 
predicted a century ago, the prediction would undoubt- 
edly have been received with the greatest ridicule and 
incredulity. But, developed as they have been, grad- 
ually, they have only taught us, that things, regarded 
as impossible in one generation, may become easy in 
the next, and that the power of man over Nature has 
scarcely any limit, provided he understands and re- 
spects her laws. We look back, with no little feeling 
of superiority, on men who lived seventy years since, 
before the invention of the steam-engine, spinning-jen 
ny, and power-loom. These three inventions, alone, 
seem to have altered the whole face of civilization, and 
added immeasurably to the enjoyments and resources 
of our race. Who shall say, that the next fifty years 



THE PROGRESS OF THE ARTS. 259 

will not bring to light yet more powerful instruments 
than these ; and cause the men of a more favored 
age to look back on ours as one of comparative imbe- 
cility. Indeed, when we think of the powers which 
Nature may yet have in reserve for the service of man ; 
when we think of the new combinations of machinery 
which his ever-fertile ingenuity may yet devise ; there 
seems to be hardly any conceivable limit to the degree 
in which the average physical condition of the human 
family may be improved. Science has but begun her 
career of discovery. Occupying higher posts of ob- 
servation, having more perfect instruments, improved 
methods of investigation, and an immensely-augmented 
number of observers, her former success has only pre- 
pared her for yet more brilliant conquests. And with 
the habits which now prevail, among both philosophers 
and artisans, such conquests cannot long remain bar- 
ren. Each new principle will be tried and tortured, 
till it yields a profit to its discoverer, and adds its share 
to the great sum of human blessings. 

We ask, in conclusion, what part shall be taken in 
this work by the scholars and artisans of America? 
They occupy a position peculiarly favorable for enlarg- 
ing this domain of the arts. In this country, there are 
no artificial barriers in the way of discovery or invention. 
Genius, here, needs no titled patron. Art is hampered 
by no restrictions. The mechanic need not be confined, 
for life, to the place of his birth, as he virtually is by 
the law of residence in England. He is not compelled, 
as on the Continent of Europe, to wait till he has gained 
admission to some privileged craft or corporation, before 
he can be allowed to set up for himself. His energies 
are not paralysed by the reflection, that every profession 
and trade is already crowded, and that there is no de- 
mand for his talents and industry. With a vast terri- 
tory, yet unpeopled, before him ; his labor in such de- 
mand, that enterprise cannot remain a week unoccupied 
or unrewarded ; privileged to select his own profession, 
and to prosecute it with all the powers which the Crea- 



260 INFLUENCE OF THE USEFUL ARTS. 

tor has given him ; he has motives to exertion and im- 
provement, never before vouchsafed to the mechanical 
and agricultural population of any country. With these 
advantages, then, let him combine a diligent study of 
the principles of Nature. Let him reflect upon the lavv^s 
which regulate the processes of his art, and endeavor, 
by every means, to enlarge his mind, and prepare it for 
original and independent inquiries. Let him consider 
that he lives and acts in the very vicinity of properties 
and powers yet undiscovered, but which, when once 
known, will affect the condition of the civilized world. 
Why, then, should not he aspire to the honor of first 
perceiving and unfolding these powers ? What shall 
prevent him, if his mind be but enriched from the stores 
of science, from exchanging the humble condition of a 
mere laborer, for that of a teacher and benefactor to his 
whole race ? Nothing is needed, to fit him for such a 
work, but the awakening influence of knowledge, the 
invigorating exercise of thought, and the firm purpose, 
that, with the permission of God, he will tread, though 
at an humble distance, in the footsteps of a Franklin, a 
Whitney, or a Fulton.^ 



CHAPTER XV. 

INFLUENCE OF THE USEFUL ARTS ON NATIONAL WELFARE. 

I HAVE frequently had occasion, in the course of this 
work, to illustrate the connexion between the useful 
arts and individual comfort. It has appeared, that 
every improvement in the principles or processes of an 
art has resulted in a substantial addition to the aggre- 
gate physical enjoyments of mankind, and has tended to 
lessen the distance which divides the less afl[luent from 
the more affluent classes of society. I propose, in this 

* See Appendix, IV. 



ON NATIONAL WELFARE. 261 

Chapter, to discuss the influence exerted by the culti- 
vation of the useful arts on national prosperity. 

The prosperity of a people depends, other things 
being equal, on the amount and due distribution of 
property ; since property alone gives the command, 
not only of physical comforts, but of knowledge, refine- 
ment, and religious privilege, — the true elements of 
human happiness or prosperity. 

Now, the amount of property, possessed by a people, 
will depend on the amount of labor and skill which 
they apply, in developing their natural advantages and 
resources. These resources have, in themselves, no 
value ; that is, they make no spontaneous contributions 
to the wealth or prosperity of a nation. The soil does 
not, of itself, bear the requisite kind and quality of food ; 
the mine yields up, without labor, no implements of 
use or articles of luxury ; the forest forms itself into no 
convenient and comfortable abode for human beings. 
There must be industry ; that is, the application, by 
men of muscular strength and intelligence, in order to 
educe from these natural sources, the substances and 
forms which are fitted to satisfy the wants, and promote 
the enjoyment, of mankind. The extent to which this 
is done will depend, first, upon the amount of muscular 
effort which is applied ; secondly, and much more, upon 
the amount of intelligence ; and thirdly, upon the extent 
to which the natural capabilities of the country are im- 
proved. It it with a nation, as with an individual. In 
proportion as there is mo7X labor ; as that labor is more 
skilfully directed ; and as that skill and labor cooper- 
ate with more efficient natural and artificial agents ; in 
that proportion will there be more produced, or a greater 
addition be made to what is usually termed exchange- 
able value. 

To give greater interest, as well as definiteness, to 
the discussion proposed, I shall conduct it with special 
reference to our own country. It is well known, that 
there has been much difference of opinion among us, 
from a very early period, in respect to the relative in- 



262 INFLUENCE OF THE USEFUL ARTS, ETC. 

fluence and importance of agriculture, commerce, and 
manufactures. This difference I cannot hope to adjust, 
and I shall not, on this occasion, attempt to draw any 
comparisons. I do not propose to inquire, whether, 
among a people situated as ours is, agriculture or man- 
ufactures be the more productive ; but simply whether, 
in order to the attainment of the largest prosperity, the 
latter be not important, as well as the former ; not 
whether the other useful arts ought to be cultivated to 
the exclusion of husbandry, but whether they ought 
not to be carried on in conjunction with it : not wheth- 
er we should forego the moral and political advantages 
which we derive from the preponderance in our popu- 
lation of a sturdy, independent yeomanry, but whether, 
with these advantages, we ought not to combine those of 
an economical and intellectual character, which might 
be derived from building up, on our own soil, the vari- 
ous useful and ornamental arts. 

I. Employment, — In which of these ways, then, by 
neglecting or encouraging the various useful arts, shall 
we provide, most effectually, in the first place, for the 
productive employment of all our population. Evi- 
dently, the first element in a nation's prosperity is, to 
have all the people employed, and employed produc- 
tively ; to have the greatest practicable amount of mus- 
cular effort applied continually to useful labor. Now, 
it is evident, that, in this country especially, agriculture 
cannot give constant and profitable occupation to all 
our labor. The climate and habits of society do not 
permit females to participate in the labors of the field : 
and the domestic occupation furnished by a farm can, 
in the absence of spinning and weaving, (which few 
farmers think now of carrying on,) furnish only partial 
employment to the average number of females who live 
in the country. So with children, and persons who 
have become disabled from field labor, by age or dis- 
ease, — they are often competent to render service, but 
it is service for which there is little or no demand upon 
a farm. Add to this, that the labors of the adult hus- 



EMPLOYMENT. 263 

bandman are often suspended, by the inclemency of the 
weather, even m Summer, and in Winter give employ- 
ment to little more than half his time ; and that, owing 
to the impossibility of introducing a perfect division of 
labor in farming, the robust adult is often engaged on 
work which might as well be performed by a child ; 
and it will be seen, that, where agriculture, or agricul- 
ture and commerce, (for the latter employs only males, 
and principally adult males,) constitute the only pursuits 
of a people, there must be a vast amount of labor con- 
stantly unoccupied ; consuming, but doing nothing to 
reproduce. 

The various arts and manufactures furnish an obvi- 
ous expedient for employing this labor, and rendering it 
productive. They afford occupation proportioned to 
every variety of capacity. '' In my recent tour," says 
Dr. Ure, speaking of England and Scotland ; "^ in my 
recent tour through the manufacturing districts, I have 
seen tens of thousands of old, young, and middle aged, 
of both sexes, many of them too feeble to get their dai- 
ly bread, by any of the former modes of industry, earn- 
ing abundant food, raiment, and domestic accommo- 
dations, without perspiring at a single pore, screened, 
mean-while, from the Summer's sun and Winter's frost, 
in apartments more airy and salubrious than those of 
the metropolis, in which our legislative and fashionable 
aristocracies assemble. In these spacious halls, the be- 
nignant power of steam summons around him his wil- 
hng subjects, and assigns to each the regulated task ; 
substituting, for painful muscular effort, on their part, 
the energies of his own gigantic arm, and demanding, 
in return, only attention and dexterity, to correct such 
little aberrations as casually occur in his workmanship." 
It is estimated, that, in the United States, about one fif- 
teenth of all the persons employed in manufactories are 
children under twelve years ; that nearly two thirds of 
the whole number are females ; and that of the residue, a 
large proportion are young persons under eighteen. The 
Lowell manufactories alone give employment to more 



264 INFLUENCE OF THE USEFUL ARTS, ETC. 

than five thousand females ; and throughout the whole 
of New England, if we include the manufacturing car- 
ried on in private houses, we should probably find, that 
not less than one hundred thousand females are profit- 
ably employed by the various arts and handicrafts ; of 
which number, but a small proportion could find work, 
in connexion with farming, or as domestics in cities. 
These females receive, on the average, two dollars a 
week, in addition to board, so that the weekly wages of 
one hundred thousand would amount to two hundred 
thousand dollars, and to ten millions four hundred thous- 
and dollars a year : and, if to this we add the wages 
paid to children, who otherwise would find nothing hke 
adequate employment, we shall have a total of not less, 
probably, than fifteen millions of dollars, in the form of 
wages, paid annually, in New England, by the mechan- 
ic and other arts, to women and children, of which, a 
very large proportion, probably not less than one third 
or one half, is clear gain. 

Even in New England, however, there is still lying 
dormant a vast amount of industry, which might be 
awakened, and rendered eminently productive, by en- 
terprise and capital, if they were judiciously applied to 
the various arts and handicrafts. 

II. Productive Employment, — But the useful arts 
contribute to the productive energies of a people, not 
merely by affording more employment for labor ; they 
tend, also, to render that labor more skilful and eflicient. 
The efficiency of labor depends, of course, on the intel- 
hgence and spirit which directs it, much more than on 
the mere amount of muscular effort. Hence, the no- 
tion, which would develope most rapidly its resources, 
should aim, first of all, to awaken and enlighten mind ; 
to train the people to habits of active thought and in- 
vestigation ; to incite them to the discovery and prac- 
tical application of those natural laws, which govern the 
operations of industry, and above all, to give them tem- 
perate and virtuous habits. Now, the cultivation, to- 
gether with agriculture, of the other useful arts, pro- 



PRODUCTIVE EMPLOYMENT. 265 

duces this effect. It quickens the general intelHgence 
of a people, and prompts them to the most productive 
application of their labor. 

1. It does this, in the first place, by affording scope 
for every variety of talent and taste. Many minds, 
which would remain forever inactive, if confined to the 
labors of the field, might be roused to strenuous and 
even brilliant exertion, in the workshop or manufactory, 
because there they would find the peculiar employment 
for which they seem to have been formed. 

2. In the second place, the cultivation of the useful 
arts promotes activity of mind, by bringing men togeth- 
er, inciting them to competition, and opening an in- 
definite career for improvement. Social as we are by 
nature, we are rarely roused to the exertion of all our 
energies till we are brought into contact, and in some 
measure into collision, with our fellow-men, and espec- 
ially with those engaged in the same pursuit. This 
effect is evidently attained in the various arts, espec- 
ially where they are carried on in large manufacto- 
ries, and attained more completely than is practicable 
in the operations of agriculture. It should be consid- 
ered, too, that the parts of a process are so graduated, 
that there is occupation for every degree of strength,, 
skill, and talent, so that a child, who enters a manu- 
factory, can see open before him a perfect series of em- 
ployments, ascending, regularly, from the carding room 
to the throstle-frame, from the throstle-frame to the 
office of Superintendent, Engineer, or even Proprietor, 
each employment calling for greater intelligence and 
skill than the last, and each proportionably more lucra- 
tive and respectable. The idea of confining an indi- 
vidual, for life, to a single operation, is now discarded 
from factory labor. Instead of having to spend a long 
apprenticeship, before his hand and eye become suffi- 
ciently skilled for certain mechanical feats, the system 
of decomposing a process into its constituent parts, and 
embodying each part in a machine, enables him, if he 
be a person of common care and capacity, to take charge 

23 s. A. 



266 INFLUENCE OF THE USEFUL ARTS, ETC. 

of almost any part, after a short probation. On an emer- 
gency, or when interest invites him, he can transfer his 
services to another department, thus varying his task, 
enlarging his views, and becoming gradually acquainted 
with every physico-mechanical combination. Indeed, 
the whole atmosphere of a large manufactory is rife 
with an intelligent activity, which extends its influence, 
not only to the inmates, but to the agricultural popula- 
tion of the vicinity. 

3. There is another way, in which the useful arts 
contribute to quicken and enlarge the intelligence of a 
people. In the operations of an art, especially of those 
which are most improved, men behold a most striking 
and constant proof of the power of knowledge, and of 
comprehensive thought. The province of the husband- 
man is apparently limited to depositing his seed. The 
elements, over which he has but Uttle control, cause it 
to germinate and spring up ; and there are countless 
influences, beyond his reach, some friendly and some 
adverse, which will contribute to ripen or to blight the 
harvest. But in the operations of a large manufactory, 
mind seems to have won a perfect mastery even over 
the elements of Nature. The fierce torrent is made to 
give motion to the most dehcate and nicely-adjusted 
mechanism. The ponderous wheel moves round, and 
no resistance is so mighty, but it yields ; no trans- 
formation so difficult, but, with the aid of wheels, pul- 
leys, berils, pinions, cranks, it can be eflfected. The 
machinery, the distribution of labor, the organization, 
the police, — all give evidence, that mind has been at 
work ; that it exercises perpetual superintendence ; and 
that it is mind which has derived its wonder-work- 
ing power from knowledge alone. Nowhere do we see 
such impressive evidence of the intimate connexion 
between science and industry, as in the workshop and 
the factory. All that has been done, to abridge labor 
and improve fabrics, is the obvious fruit of knowledge 
and reflection. On the one hand, science has furnish- 
ed principles for the arts to apply : on the other hand, 



CLIMATE, SOIL, PRODUCTIONS, ETC. 267 

the arts have proposed problems for science to re- 
solve ; and this mutual aid and dependence have been 
the means of carrying both forward, at a rate contin- 
ually accelerated. Thus, example, the most power- 
ful of all teachers, admonishes the workman of the 
necessity of intellectual cultivation. It makes him fa- 
miliar, too, with the idea of improvement. It suggests 
that the career of advancement, instead of having ended, 
has but begun ; and that, if he will but avail himself 
of the power, which knowledge and reflection bestow, 
it may be his lot to contribute to a future, and perhaps 
yet more brilliant, progress of the arts. Such reflec- 
tions extend from the operative mechanic to the hus- 
bandman. It is the view of what science has done for 
the mechanical and chemical arts, that has awakened 
the desire, which now begins to prevail so extensively 
among farmers, for more improved and scientific meth- 
ods of culture. It should be considered, too, that agri- 
culture must be indebted to these arts for improved im- 
plements and machines ; and that native arts, alone, 
can furnish such as are well adapted to our system of 
farming. 

III. We have thus shown how the useful arts con- 
tribute to national prosperity, by giving more full em- 
ployment to labor, and also by rendering that labor 
more skilful, intelligent, and therefore more produc- 
tive. But, in order to give to labor the greatest pos- 
sible efliciency, another condition must be complied 
with, — it must avail itself of all the advantages and 
capabihties which have been bestowed upon the nation 
by the Creator. It must adapt itself to the climate 
and position ; must put in requisition whatever natural 
agents are at hand ; must substitute automatic or ani- 
mal, for human, labor ; must produce for a near or a 
more distant market, according to the expense of trans- 
portation, the extent of demand, &c. 

Now, when we look at the physical character of our 
own country, we cannot but be struck with the great 
variety of climate, soil, and industrial capability, which 



268 INFLUENCE OF THE USEFUL ARTS, ETC. 

exists within our extended borders. We have the rich 
bottom lands of the South, and the granite hills and 
sterile plains of New England. We have, at the North- 
east, a soil and climate producing little but timber, grass, 
and Indian corn ; in the Middle States, districts admira- 
bly fitted for wheat, and other grains ; and at the South, 
rich fields and sunny skies, which ripen the orange, give 
full flavor to the sugarcane, and yield, in almost bound- 
less profusion, cotton and rice. Then we have large 
rivers or canals, penetrating our territory, and opening 
outlets for the productions of industry ; vast inland seas, 
navigable by the largest ships, and lined by thousands 
of miles of fertile coasts ; so that now, a barrel of flour 
or pork can float, I had almost said, from the furthest 
point in our Western interior ; or a hogshead of sugar 
can be carried from the extreme South ; without a mile 
of land-carriage, and at the most trifling expense, to 
the remotest village of Maine. But, on the other hand, 
there are vast portions of country which are emphati- 
cally sequestered, having no means of cheap and easy 
transport to the seaboard, or to any important market. 
When we consider this great diversity in the allotments 
of life, the voice of Nature, — may we not rather say, of 
Providence, — seems very clear. To the farmer on the 
banks of the Genesee or of the Illinois, it says, raise 
wheat ; to the husbandman on the banks of the Merri- 
mac or Penobscot, it says, with equal clearness, raise no 
wheat ; the soil and climate are against you ; and you 
can sustain no competition with your more favored 
countrymen of the West. To the farmer in the interi- 
or, who has no means of easy access to market, it says, 
your soil may be propitious to wheat, but, if you would 
raise and sell it profitably, you must create a market 
for it, in your own vicinity. You cannot compete, on 
any other terms, w^ith those who have choice of the 
best markets of the world. 

Here, then, a grave question presents itself. If the 
inhabitant of New England, of southern New York, 
of the interior of Pennsylvania, cannot compete with 



CLIMATE, SOIL, PRODUCTIONS, ETC. 269 

his fellow-citizens of more favored districts, in raising 
grain, what shall he do ? Shall he be content to glean 
a bare subsistence from the rugged or secluded soil he 
tills? or shall he put out the light of his dwelling, 
take a last look of the home of his childhood, the grave 
of his fathers, the village church and schoolhouse, and 
commence his line of march towards the wilderness ? 
To many of these men, strangers as they are to despair, 
fertile in expedients, accustomed to consult the intima- 
tions of Providence, that Providence has spoken a far 
different language. It has pointed to the bleak hill, 
covered with furze, as the very place on which to rear 
and subsist the warm-fleeced sheep. It has pointed to 
the forest, on that hill's summit, rich with timber for 
building, and to the stream hurrying around its base, 
and ready to perform the labor of many human hands. 
It bids them look at the mineral wealth, which lies 
treasured in exhaustless storehouses beneath their feet ; 
to the iron, ready to form itself into all the implements 
of industry and use ; to the coal, fitted to fuse that 
iron, to clear away its dross and foreign admixtures, 
and transmute it into steel; to the salt, the granite, 
the marble, the lead : and it has seemed to say, were all 
these created in vain ? Was it the intention of the 
Creator, that these should forever slumber in unexplored 
recesses, unemployed, and useless to man ? Is it well, 
that we should cross the ocean, to procure what can be 
fabricated at our own doors ? Is it right, that our more 
privileged countrymen, who till nothing but willing and 
prolific fields, should insist on raising grain for us, un- 
less they are wilHng that we should labor for them, in 
return, and be compensated for our labor ? Is it good 
economy, that our wool, and cotton, and hemp, should 
be transported thousands of miles, in order to be manu- 
factured for our own use, — being thus subjected to a 
double freight, of which the cost falls principally on us, 
and forms not less than one sixth of their whole value ? 
Why was such a vast territory given us, with such a 
variety of natural productions, and such facilities for 
23^ 



270 INFLUENCE OF THE USEFUL ARTS, ETC. 

transforming them into articles of use and luxury, and 
transporting them to any required point, but that we 
should carry on, within ourselves, a complete system of 
industry and trade, distributing employments according 
to local advantages, and multiplying, between the dif- 
ferent and distant parts of our confederacy, the ties of 
mutual interest and dependence ? 

The force of such considerations is materially en- 
hanced, by another and a somewhat different one. 
This country is urged to foster and encourage the use- 
ful arts, not only on account of its many natural ca- 
pabilities, and its great distance from the workshops 
of the old world, but also on account of the peculiar 
benefits which would redound to us from the substitu- 
tion of machinery for human labor. It is this substitu- 
tion, doubtless, which has tended, more than any, and 
perhaps more than all other, causes, to carry forward 
the useful arts, and to increase the physical enjoyments 
of mankind. But it has been made, to a great extent, 
only in mechanical and manufacturing pursuits. In 
agriculture, there has doubtless been considerable im- 
provement in the construction of utensils and imple- 
ments, and in the substitution of animal for human 
power ; but hardly any thing has yet been done towards 
superseding the labor of men and animals by means of 
inanimate forces. The consequence is, that, while in 
husbandry the value of human labor may, within a cen- 
tury, have been doubled or quadrupled, it has been in- 
creased in the cotton manufacture two hundred times ; 
so that one workman now produces as much cotton 
cloth, as two hundred did, in former times ; and the 
cloth turned off by two hundred and seventy-two 
thousand two hundred and ninety-seven men, in the 
cotton manufactories of a district in England, would 
have required, under the old system, the labor of sixty- 
seven millions of hands ; that is, of a population nearly 
three times as great as that of the whole kingdom. It 
must be evident, then, that if these wonderful expedi- 
ents for saving labor are beneficial, they will benefit 



PRODUCTIVE EMPLOYMENT. 271 

that people the most, by whom they are most exten- 
sively adopted and used. 

I have intimated, however, that to this country the 
substitution of machinery for human labor would bring 
peculiar advantages. It would do so for two reasons. 
First. Labor, in the United States is said to be more 
expensive than in older and more populous countries ; 
and it has been hence inferred, that we can never 
compete with them in mechanical industry. But in 
proportion as we substitute machinery for men, we di- 
minish this inequality of expense, and place ourselves 
on the same footing with England or France. Sec- 
ondly. Then, again, the inanimate forces which we 
employ in this country are cheaper than those of Eng- 
land. Manufacturers, there, are obliged to use steam- 
power, or water-power at a very high rent ; whereas, 
in the United States, water can be commanded in al- 
most every district, and at a low rate. This fact was 
assigned by Mr. Kempton, a cotton-manufacturer of 
Pennsylvania, who was examined, a few years since, 
before a committee of the British Parliament, on the 
state of manufactures in America, as one of the rea- 
sons why American cotton goods were not only com- 
peting successfully with the British, in some markets, 
but actually gaining ground upon and even excluding 
them.^ He mentioned, for example, that the annual 
cost of one-horse power, in the United States, would 
be only fifteen dollars and a half; whereas, in England, 
it would be fifty-five dollars and a half, — or as one to 
three and a half. No advantages, corresponding with 
these, could be gained by the exclusive pursuit of agri- 
culture. 

There is another consideration, which seems strongly 
to recommend the promotion of the useful arts in this 

* Large quantities of American cotton fabrics are now sent to 
Mexico, Brazil, &c., on our own continent, and to India, China, 
Java, Borneo, Sumatra, &c., as well as to the Mediterranean, on 
the Eastern continent. They are considered to be decidedly supe- 
rior to British goods, of the same denomination, and are afforded at a 
cheaper rate. 



272 INFLUENCE OF THE USEFUL ARTS, ETC. 

country. It is, that by such means, and by such means 
only, we can render our industry independent, in a 
greater degree, of the caprices of foreign legislation 
and the vicissitudes of European poHtics. Were our 
whole population devoted to agricultural pursuits, there 
would be, of course, a vast surplus of agricultural pro- 
ducts, to find vent in foreign markets. Now, nothing 
is more uncertain than the condition in which many 
of these markets may be found after an interval of nine 
or twelve months. Should the people be engaged in 
war, so that they cannot cultivate the earth, or procure 
supplies from distant colonies ; or should their crops be 
cut off by drought, frost, or vermin ; their ports are 
thrown open, cargoes of our produce are disposed of at 
high prices, and our farmers are stimulated to increased 
outlays of capital and labor. Yet nothing is more like- 
ly than that, before the next harvest, those very ports 
will be sealed hermetically, the armies that we have 
been subsisting be converted into productive laborers, 
and our farmers left without vent for their commodi- 
ties. 

It is evident, that nothing can be more prejudicial 
to industry, nothing better calculated to entail ruin on 
individuals, or paralyse generally the spirit of enter- 
prise, than these great and sudden fluctuations. They 
are inseparable, however, from a policy which makes us 
dependent on foreign customers ; and they have been 
experienced in this country in a most striking and dis- 
astrous degree. Hardly had we settled down under a 
regular government, when the disorders throughout Eu- 
rope, consequent upon the French Revolution, threw 
into our hands the carrying trade of several nations, as 
well as the business of raising grain and cattle for the 
subsistence of their troops. Our exports rose from 
nineteen millions, the amount in 1791, to sixty-seven 
millions in 1796 ; and reached the enormous amount 
of one hundred and eight millions in 1807. Then, the 
French ' decrees' and British ' orders in council' fell like 
a blight upon our industry, and our exports fell, in a sin- 



PRODUCTIVE EMPLOYMENT. 273 

gle year, from one hundred and eight to twenty-two 
milhons. By the year 1811, they had mounted' up 
again to sixty-one milhons ; and then came the war of 
1812, to let fall another blight. Then, again, in 1817 
and 1818, the British ports being open to our flour, and 
the exports of cotton being heavy, they rose to one hun- 
dred and eighty-one millions, for those two years ; and 
in the two next following, the British ports being shut, 
they fell to one hundred and forty millions ; twenty-one 
millions of the diminution being in the value of vegeta- 
ble food alone. 

For these ruinous fluctuations, there would seem to be 
but one remedy ; and that is a home-market. Foreign 
nations act upon the policy of supplying their own neces- 
sities, whenever they are able, and will accept our bread- 
stuflTs, in exchange for their manufactures, only when 
necessity compels. So long, then, as we depend solely 
or chiefly on their markets, our industry will be subject 
to unnatural elevations and depressions : our trade will 
want that most essential of all the characteristics of 
health, namely, steadiness. But let one portion of our 
people invest, as they have done, their capital, enterprise, 
and labor, in the useful arts ; they become consumers, 
on the one hand, of grain, thus furnishing the husband- 
man a market, and producers, on the other hand, of the 
manufactures for which he wishes to exchange that 
grain. 

In such a system of exchanges, there can be little in- 
terference from abroad ; while, at home, it is evidently 
the interest of all parties to confine themselves to their 
appropriate employment, to produce the greatest possi- 
ble amount of their proper commodity, and to obtain 
for it, in the form of useful or elegant articles, the great- 
est possible return. In this way, the prosperity of one 
part of the country becomes the prosperity of every 
other. Each has its peculiar capabilities and its pecu- 
liar wants. If Maine wants the cottons of Alabama, 
the latter wants the wool and woollens of Maine. 
Bread from Rochester or Baltimore, iron and coal from 



274 INFLUENCE OF THE USEFUL ARTS, ETC. 

Philadelphia, lead from St. Louis, pork from Cincinnati, 
travel east, and return in the shape of cotton and wool- 
len cloths, shoes and boots, cut-glass tumblers, straw 
hats, &c. These, again, are changed and interchang- 
ed to and fro, many times ; and thus do we secure a 
vast home trade, resembling foreign trade as well in the 
intervening distances as in the nature of the exchanges ; 
blending in one, in truth, the advantages of both, '' freed 
from the jealousies that have frustrated, and must ever 
continue to frustrate, the benevolent but impracticable 
theories of commercial intercourse, as between distinct 
nations ; prosecuted both along the ocean and the high- 
ways of the interior, in vessels built by our own me- 
chanics, navigated by our own seamen, subsisted by our 
own farmers, untrammelled by imposts, and without the 
necessity even of a customhouse, except in form." I 
shall have occasion, hereafter, to advert to the relative 
value of this, as compared with our foreign, trade. I 
speak of it, now, merely as a resource against the fluc- 
tuations of the latter, and as being peculiarly calculated 
to develope, with regularity and profit, the hidden wealth 
of the nation. 

There is yet another consideration, which, to my 
mind, pleads strongly in favor of the encouragement of 
the useful arts. It is the independent position which 
such a policy enables us to assume, with respect to for- 
eign nations. I am by no means insensible to the val- 
ue of foreign commerce, nor of a friendly intercourse 
with the various nations abroad ; nor do I desire to see 
them in the least degree abridged. Hardly a feature 
of our age is more gratifying, than the pacific policy and 
the spirit of commercial activity which now character- 
ize the intercourse of states. But how is it that peace 
is most likely to be preserved, or trade regulated upon 
principles of reciprocity ? Is it by assuming an attitude 
of commercial dependence, so that, when we come to 
treat with a foreign power, that power shall plainly dis- 
cover that we are not in a condition to prescribe, but 
only to accept, terms, and that she will find account 



PRODUCTIVE EMPLOYMENT. 275 

in playing the part of dictator? There was never 
wiser counsel than that of Washington, when he said, 
that, if we would preserve peace, we must show that 
we are prepared for the alternative of war. So it may 
be said, with equal truth, that, if we would carry on 
a profitable trade with foreign nations, we must show 
them that we are prepared to do without it. As inter- 
course is now conducted between states, no nation can 
be truly independent, which has not within itself the 
means of fabricating clothing, and the implements of 
industry and defence. Of this we have had most hu- 
miliating evidence in our own history. The reader 
must be aware of the straits to which the army that 
fought the battles of the Revolution was often reduced, 
for want of ammunition, clothing, &c. When Gener- 
al Washington first took command of the army lying at 
Cambridge, in full view of the British forces, he found, 
to his amazement, and to the astonishment even of the 
officers who had been at the station, that there was not 
powder enough in the whole camp for nine cartridges to 
a man. There were also nearly two thousand men in 
camp without firelocks ; and, although every expedient 
was tried to procure them, it was with httle eflfect. 
The New-England governments had none to furnish. 
The militia, as their terms of service expired, being re- 
luctant to part with their arms, carried them away to 
their homes ; and, there being no establishments where 
they could be manufactured, General Washington had 
no alternative but to sit down in inaction, bearing the 
murmurs of his men, and the dissatisfaction of the coun- 
try, in silence, lest, by assigning the true cause, he should 
expose his weakness to the enemy, and see the rising 
hopes of his country suddenly blighted. So it was on 
other occasions, especially during the encampment at 
Valley Forge. '' Such was the scarcity of blankets," 
says a biographer of Washington, '^ that many of the 
men were obliged to sit up all night before the fires, 
being without covering to protect them, while taking 
the ordinary refreshment of sleep ; and in numerous in- 



276 INFLUENCE OF THE USEFUL ARTS, ETC. 

Stances they were so scantily clad, that they could not 
leave their huts." 

After such experience, it was not surprising that the 
genius of our people for the useful arts, which had of- 
ten manifested itself previous to the Revolution, but 
had been carefully stifled by the mother country, should 
be again roused ; and that many efforts should have 
been made for the establishment of domestic industry. 
Whoever is familiar with the history of the States, from 
the peace of 1783 to the adoption of the present Con- 
stitution, (1788,) must have observed, that, to obtain 
efficient protection for our native shipping and infant 
manufactures was one of the leading motives, espe- 
cially at the North, for wishing the establishment of an 
energetic federal government. The Constitution w^as 
no sooner ratified, than petitions flowed in to Congress 
from every direction, — from Boston, from Baltimore, 
and from Charleston, — invoking the strong arm of the 
government to protect and foster the industry of the 
country. 

These petitions were seconded by the recommen- 
dations of Washington, by the researches and admi- 
rable Report of Hamilton, and by the harmonious ac- 
tion of Congress. It so happened, however, that the 
neutral position which, through the wise policy of 
Washington, was taken by the new government, in re- 
gard to the wars growing out of the French Revolu- 
tion, served to make us, for the time, the carriers and 
producers of food for foreigners, thus absorbing our in- 
dustry in agriculture and commerce. But the ' French 
decrees' and ' British orders' fell on these interests like 
an avalanche, (as we have seen,) in 1807 ; and their 
eflfect had hardly subsided, before the war of 1812 came, 
and surprised us without any adequate means of sup- 
plying our own wants. So depressed, for instance, was 
the woollen manufacture, at that period, and so depen- 
dent, consequently, was our condition, that the Secre- 
tary of War was obliged to prefer a request to Con- 
gress, that existing laws might be so far repealed, as to 



PRODUCTIVE EMPLOYMENT. 277 

allow the importation of six thousand blankets for the 
Indian Department^ which was supposed, however, to 
mean, that our own soldiers could not be preserved from 
the inclemency of the season, even while fighting the 
British, unless they could procure blankets from British 
looms. This request was not granted ; and the fearful 
privations endured by our troops, for the want of proper 
clothing, is too fresh in the memory of the present gen- 
eration, to require more than a passing reference. 

It was natural, that, during this war, while cut off 
from intercourse with Europe, our arts and manufac- 
tures should rapidly extend. The continuance of it, 
however, was short ; and, at its close, we witnessed, in 
the deluge of foreign, and especially of British goods, 
which poured in upon us, one of those systematic at- 
tempts to cripple our manufactories, which must fre- 
quently occur while our policy, in regard to th^m, is 
unsettled. '' It was well worth while," said Mr. Brough- 
am, during a debate in the British Parliament, when 
speaking of the losses incurred by the British exporters 
in these goods ; ^^ it was well worth while to incur a loss 
upon the first exportation, in order, by the glut, to sti- 
fle in the cradle those rising manufactures in the Unit- 
ed States, which the war had forced into existence, 
contrary to the natural course of things ;" meaning, I 
suppose, by the '^ natural course of things," that course 
which would best promote the interests of the British 
nation. 

It would be easy to multiply these instances, in 
which the want of a more stable system of domestic 
industry has placed us at the mercy of foreign legisla- 
tion, or foreign traders. Such, for example, was the 
immense importation of East-India cotton into Great 
Britain, in 1818, in order to prostrate the price of the 
American product ; and when, owing to this measure, 
cotton suddenly fell seven and a half cents on the 
pound, and declined, in a little more than two years, 
from thirty-two to sixteen cents, and in the three sub- 
sequent years ranged still lower. Such was the act of 
24 s. A. 



278 INFLUENCE OF THE USEFUL ARTS, ETC. 

Parliament, in 1824, reducing the duty on imported 
wool from sixpence sterling to one penny a pound, and 
afterwards to a half-penny, for the declared purpose, as 
the debates in Parhament show, of enabling the British 
manufacturer to undersell, in our own market, the na- 
tive fabrics which were then springing up. And such, 
to add no other examples, is the wellknown practice of 
many British proprietors, at this time, in consequence of 
the advantage of operating on a large scale, of manufac- 
turing beyond the amount of orders they have received, 
and to export the surplus at a price which keeps down 
foreign competition. '' The profits," says Dr. Ure, 
when speaking, in his ^ Philosophy of Manufactures,' of 
this practice ; '' the profits on the greater proportion in- 
demnify them for the losses on the smaller." Is it not 
to be apprehended, that we shall soon witness another 
appalling display of the effects of this policy on our 
woollen manufactures? When, in 1842, the discrim- 
inating duties shall cease, and foreign woollens be re- 
ceived, subject to so slight impost, is it not hkely that 
we shall see another attempt, by glutting our markets, 
to stifle those rising manufactures, in which such im- 
mense amounts of industry, capital, and skill, have 
been embarked, by the encouragement held out, too, 
from our own government ?* 

Such, then, are some of the reasons which seem to 
dictate to nations, and especially to a nation situated 
like ours, the policy of cultivating the useful arts. I 
need not repeat, I trust, that they are not presented as 
arguments for such an undue or exclusive encourage- 
ment, as would be likely to prejudice, if such a thing 
be possible, the interests of commerce and agriculture. 
^' For myself," to borrow the words of General Wash- 
ington, in his letter, in 1789, to the 'Delaware Society 
for promoting Domestic Manufactures,' " having an 

♦It is proper to mention, here, that different views, from those 
adopted in this Chapter, are held by many persons ; and we advise 
our readers to examine both sides of this important question, for 
themselves. 



PRODUCTIVE EMPLOYMENT. 279 

equal regard for the prosperity of the farming, trading, 
and manufacturing, interests, I cannot conceive that the 
extension of the latter (so far as it may afford employ- 
ment to a great number of hands, which would be oth- 
erwise, in a manner, idle) can be detrimental to the 
farmer. On the contrary, the concurrence of virtuous 
individuals, and the combinations of economical socie- 
ties, to rely as much as possible on the resources of 
our own country, may be productive of great national 
advantages, by establishing the habits of industry and 
economy. The objects of your institution are therefore 
highly commendable, and you will permit me to add, 
gentlemen, that I propose to demonstrate the sincerity 
of my opinion on this subject, by the uniformity of my 
practice in giving a decided preference to the produce 
and fabrics of America, whensoever it may be done 
without involving an unreasonable expense, or very 
great inconvenience." In pursuance of this determi- 
nation, when he appeared before Congress, in 1790, to 
deliver his speech, at the opening of the session, he was 
arrayed in a complete suit of American broadcloth, from 
the woollen manufactory established a short time pre- 
vious, under the patronage of Colonel Jeremiah Wads- 
worth, at Hartford, in Connecticut, and which is believ- 
ed to have been the first establishment of the kind in 
America. 

In regard to the influence of the Useful Arts on Na- 
tional Prosperity, history speaks but one language. If 
we trace the progress of modern civilization, from its 
cradle, in the south of Europe, to its home, in the Isl- 
and of Great Britain, or in the United States, we shall 
find that the state of the useful arts, at any period, and 
in almost any country, will form a true index to its 
general condition. It was these arts, borrowed through 
the Crusades from the East, or reanimated, after a long 
slumber, at home, that built up ihefree cities, and sent 
forth from them an awakening influence on all classes, 
creating new and higher tastes, even among the boors 
of the hamlet, and inciting them to corresponding ef- 



280 INFLUENCE OF THE USEFUL ARTS, ETC. 

forts, in order to gratify them. It was by transplanting 
these arts from Italy to Flanders, that the Earl of the 
latter country first gave it an upward impulse, and laid 
the foundation for the supremacy which it so long en- 
joyed in industry and wealth, and in the freedom of 
its middle and working classes. And when England, 
pausing in the midst of her foreign wars, set herself to 
develope her native resources, and commenced that 
career, in which she has ascended from one to another 
height of power, and wealth, and civilization, what was 
the grand, the distinguishing, characteristic of her poli- 
cy ? You will find the germ of it, if I mistake not, as 
far back as the years 1336 and 1337, when " Edward 
the Third, in the midst of his efforts to subdue Scot- 
land, and preparations for subduing France, ivas not 
inattentive,^^ to use the language of McPherson, in his 
^ Annals of Commerce,' '' to the more rational project 
of establishing the woollen manufactures in his do- 
minions/' and " foreign clothmakers, to induce them 
to move, were promised the King's protection, to live 
in any part of his dominions, together with franchises 
(as the act of Parliament runs) to their full satisfac- 
tion.^' 

Then commenced the poUcy, which has ever since 
characterized England ; the policy of awakening the 
dormant energies of her people, and turning to account 
all the resources of her territory, and all the discoveries 
of science ; the policy of planting within her borders 
all the arts that are, by way of eminence, useful ; that 
enrich, strengthen, gladden ; the pohcy of giving em- 
ployment, and the most productive employment, to 
a whole population, old and young, male and female ; 
of enlisting in their aid the powers of Nature, and the 
inventions of genius ; in one word, of rearing manufac- 
tures to stimulate agriculture and quicken commerce. 
And to what point has she arisen, under the auspices 
of this policy, aided, doubtless, by other causes. '' Sir," 
says one of our countrymen, a southern statesman, 
speaking on this subject, " I have weighed every sylla- 



PRODUCTIVE EMPLOYMENT. 281 

ble that I utter ; I express a deliberate conviction, 
founded upon a patient inquiry, and a comparison as 
complete as my limited knowledge has enabled me to 
make it, between the past and present condition of 
mankind, and between the great nation of which I am 
speaking, and those that surround her. Sir, there is a 
gulf between them ; that narrow channel separates 
worlds : it is an ocean more than three thousand miles 
wide. 

'^ I appeal to any one who has been abroad, wheth- 
er going from England to any part of the Continent 
be not descending immensely in the scale of civiliza- 
tion. I know, sir, that that word is an ambiguous 
one ; I know, that in some of the graces of polished 
society, in some of the arts of an elegant imagination ; 
that in the exact sciences, and in mere learning and 
general intellectual cultivation, some nations have ex- 
celled, perhaps many equalled, England. But in that 
civilization which it is the grand end of modern politi- 
cal economy to promote, which at once springs out of, 
and leads to, the accumulation of capital, and the dis- 
tribution of wealth and comfort among all classes of 
the community, with an immense aggregate of national 
power and resources, — in such a civilization, there is 
nothing recorded in the annals of mankind, that does 
not sink into the shades of the deepest eclipse, by the 
side of England. 

'' I say nothing of her recent achievements on the 
land and the sea ; of her fleets, her armies, her subsi- 
dized allies. Look at the Thames, crowded with ship- 
ping ; visit her arsenals, her docks, her canals, her rail- 
ways, her factories, her mines, her warehouses, her 
roads, and bridges. Go through the streets of that 
wonderful metropolis, — the bank, the emporium, and 
the exchange, of the whole world ; converse with those 
merchants who conduct and control, as far as it is pos- 
sible to control, the commerce of all nations ; with those 
manufacturers who fill every market with their unriv- 
alled products ; go into that bank, where is the repos- 
24* 



282 INFLUENCE OF THE USEFUL ARTS, ETC. 

itory of the precious metals for all Europe ; consider its 
notesj as well as the bills of private bankers, at a pre- 
mium every where, more valuable than specie, symbols 
not merely of gold but of what is far more precious 
than gold, yea, than fine gold, of perfect good faith, of 
unblemished integrity, of sagacious enterprise, of steady, 
persevering industry, of boundless wealth, of business co- 
extensive with the earth, and of all these things possess- 
ed, exercised, enjoyed, protected, under a system of lib- 
erty chastened by the law which maintains it, and of 
law softened and mitigated by the spirit of liberty which 
it breathes throughout. 

" Sir," continues the eloquent gentleman from whom 
I quote, '' I know, as well as any one, what compensa- 
tions there are for all this opulence and power ; (for it 
is the condition of our being, that we buy our blessings 
at a price ;) I know that there are disturbing causes, 
which have hitherto marred, in some degree, the effect 
of this high and mighty civilization ; but the hand of 
reform has been already appHed to them, and every 
thing promises the most auspicious results. I have it 
on the most unquestionable authority, because from an 
unwilling witness, that, within the memory of man, 
never were the laboring classes of England so univer- 
sally employed, or so comfortably situated, as at the be- 
ginning of the present year."*= 

In view of this brilliant, but, as I believe, not over- 
charged picture of England's power and wealth, I 
could hardly help whispering, if I had access to the 
author's ear, that she has not reached so proud a pre- 
eminence by an exclusive devotion to agriculture, the 
favorite policy of the gentleman's own State ; and that, 
while she has been coining her millions out of the 
manufacture of cotton. South Carolina has hardly com- 
passed equal profits, though doubtless great ones, by 
raising it. 

It would be easy to multiply these historical proofs, 

* Speech of Hon. H. S. Legare, in Congress, 1837. 



PRODUCTIVE EMPLOYMENT. 283 

by a reference to other countries^ and even to our own, 
where the tide of prosperity never rolled on in such 
majestic waves, as during those periods (especially the 
last twelve or fifteen years) when the useful arts were 
most cultivated. But I must hasten to other views 
of the subject, and especially to some notice of the ob- 
jections which are commonly preferred against any 
special effort to encourage these arts in the United 
States. 

1. It is objected, in the first place, that it infringes 
on one great principle of productive industry, namely, 
in the division of labor. '' No one," says Mr. M'Cul- 
loch, '' thinks of performing every thing for himself, 
nor of making at home what it would cost him more 
to make than to buy. The tailor, as Dr. Smith has 
remarked, does not attempt to make his own shoes, 
but buys them of a shoemaker ; the shoemaker, on his 
part, does not attempt to make his own clothes, but 
employs a tailor ; and the farmer makes neither the one 
nor the other, but obtains them in exchange for his 
corn and his cattle. Each individual finds it for his 
advantage to employ himself in some particular busi- 
ness, and to exchange a part of his peculiar produce, 
for such parts of the produce of others, as he may have 
occasion for. And it is not very easy," he adds, '^ to see 
how that conduct, which is universally admitted to be 
wise and proper in individuals, should be foolish and 
absurd in the case of a state ; that is, of the total num- 
bers of individuals inhabiting a particular tract of coun- 
try." 

Applying this principle to this country, it is thought 
to be unwise for a people, having such vast tracts 
of fertile and unoccupied territory, to divert from 
its tillage any portion of their industry, in order to 
fabricate articles which can as well be procured from 
abroad, and for manufacturing which, other nations 
have superior facilities. To this argument there would 
not be so obvious a reply, provided these other nations 
would consent to receive our agricultural products, in 



284 INFLUENCE OF THE USEFUL ARTS, ETC. 

exchange for their manufactures ; or, in other words, 
if there were between nations, as there is between in- 
dividuals of the same nation, perfect freedom of trade. 
But this is far from being the case. While England 
wishes us to buy her cloths and hardware, she positive- 
ly refuses, most of the time, to take, in exchange, our 
corn, cattle, or lumber. " In such a position of things," 
said Hamilton, fifty years ago, and the remark has lost 
none of its force since ; "in such a position of things, 
the United States cannot exchange with Europe on 
equal terms ; and the want of reciprocity would make 
them the victims of a system which should induce them 
to confine their views to agriculture, and refrain from 
manufactures. A constant and increasing necessity, on 
their part, for the commodities of Europe, and only a 
partial and occasional demand for their own, in return, 
could not but expose them to a state of impoverishment, 
compared with the opulence to which their political 
and natural advantages authorize them to aspire." If 
the shoemaker should tell the farmer that he could no 
longer take his cattle and his corn for shoes ; or could 
only take them occasionally, when he was unable to 
produce sufficient for himself, the farmer must necessa- 
rily reply, then, sir, I can no longer take your shoes. 
I must look out for some other individual, who will 
take the only articles of produce I have to give, or I 
must turn shoemaker myself. While Great Britain 
refuses to take in exchange for her goods the produce 
of the labor of two thirds of the people of the United 
States, and the latter can obtain equivalents for that 
produce in no other part of the world, it ill becomes 
her to complain that these two thirds should attempt to 
manufacture for themselves. 

2. But it is said, again, that industry, if left to itself, 
will naturally find its own way to the most useful and 
profitable employment ; and that to attempt, therefore, 
to hasten its movements, by special efforts, or by the 
agency of government, is to do violence to the interests 
of the country. Those who advance this argument 



PRODUCTIVE EMPLOYMENT. 28S 

can hardly have appreciated the ^' strong influence of 
habit, and the spirit of imitation, which affects com- 
munities no less than individuals ; the fear of want of 
success in untried enterprises ; the intrinsic difficulties, 
incident to first essays towards competition with those 
who have previously attained to perfection in the busi- 
ness to be attempted ; the combinations by those en- 
gaged in a particular branch of business, in one country, 
to frustrate, by temporary sacrifices, the first eflTorts to 
introduce it into another ; the bounties, premiums, and 
other artificial encouragements, with which foreign na- 
tions second the exertions of their own citizens, in the 
branches in which they are to be rivalled." The force 
of habit and education is such, even in our bustling 
country, that there lives in my neighborhood a gentle- 
man of wealth and intelligence, but who belongs, in 
years, almost to another age, who questions altogether 
the utility of steam-boats, and who has never yet been 
persuaded to put his foot on board of one : and I have 
heard of an old planter, who died not many years 
since, in Maryland, who, having been educated when 
there were few or no manufactories in America, con- 
tinued, to the very last, to ship his tobacco to a factor 
in England, as before the Revolution, and to receive 
thence supplies of the most trifling articles for his fam- 
ily use, such as tea, sugar, coffee, pepper, mustard, and 
all farming utensils, and articles of clothing, packed 
up and forwarded as they had been at the period of 
the first settlements in the State. The other consider- 
ations which have been suggested admit of similar illus- 
tration. 

3. It has been objected, again, that manufactures 
can be built up, in a country like ours, only at the 
expense of commerce and agriculture. This opinion 
is the result of an old prejudice, by which these three 
great branches of industry are regarded as rival and 
even hostile interests, — a prejudice which the uniform 
experience of civilized nations ought, before this day, 
to have corrected. If we look over the world, we shall 



286 INFLUENCE OF THE USEFUL ARTS, ETC. 

find that the most active and lucrative commerce, and 
the most improved and productive systems of tillage, 
have prevailed in the very countries which have been 
most distinguished for their arts and manufactures. 
Look at Lombardy and Flanders, of former times. 
Look at England and Scotland, at this moment. Look 
even at this Country, and tell me, in w^hat parts of it 
there is the busiest commerce, the most active and in- 
telligent culture of the soil. To build up commerce, 
you must furnish it w^ith commodities to exchange ; and 
the greater their variety, as vs^ell as their abundance, 
the more active the exchanges you will set in motion. 
To stimulate, to the utmost, the energies of the hus- 
bandman, you must, on the one hand, furnish him with 
a ready market for his products, and, on the other, 
kindle in his mind new desires for the conveniences 
and luxuries of life. All this has been done by the 
useful arts, in other countries, and is now in the way 
of being done here. Even should foreign trade be 
somewhat contracted, it would only be the result of 
substituting for it a more extensive and profitable trade 
at home. The operations of this trade, being less im- 
posing than those which belong to commerce with dis- 
tant countries, and no full or accurate survey being 
annually taken of them by the authority of government, 
we are but little aware of their vast and paramount im- 
portance. The products of our domestic manufactures 
amount annually to little less than four hundred millions 
of dollars, — while all our imports from abroad are es- 
timated at less than a quarter of that sum ; and the 
imports of such articles as we can make in the United 
States at much less. Now, the domestic exchanges, 
or commerce, to which these four hundred millions of 
dollars worth of manufactures gives rise, the demand 
which it creates for the products of agriculture, the em- 
ployment which is thus afforded for our coasting ves- 
sels, our canals, and steam-boats, constitute, together, 
an amount of industry, compared with which our whole 
foreign trade, and that portion of our agriculture en- 



PRODUCTIVE EMPLOYMENT. 287 

gaged in producing for exportation, forms but an incon- 
siderable item. 

And yet let it not be supposed that these advantages, 
exempt as they are from the fluctuations inseparable 
from foreign trade, and investing us with a real as well 
as a nominal independence, have abridged essentially our 
intercourse with foreign nations. The truth is, they have 
not abridged it at all. Our imports, as the Reports 
of the Treasury Department show, have never been 
so great, on an average, as during the last fifteen years, 
when our domestic arts have been most thriving. And 
this increase is the effect, not merely of an increasing 
population, but also, and in good part, of the addition 
which those arts have made to our wealth. Without 
these arts, what ability would New England, for in- 
stance, have, to buy, not merely the flour of Rochester, 
and the pork of Cincinnati, and the cotton of Alabama, 
(let not the Alabamian despise his Eastern customer, 
for that customer adds not less than ten per cent, to the 
value of his staple,) not merely to buy these, but what 
ability would she have to purchase the silks of France, 
and the cutlery of England, and the teas of China? 
It is a fact, that two thirds of our whole population, — 
those inhabiting the Eastern, Middle, and Western, 
States north of the Ohio, — have almost no foreign mar- 
ket for the products of their agricultural labor. Of the 
annual exports of the United States, more than three 
fourths are furnished from the plantation States, and 
consist of cotton, rice, and tobacco. In what way, 
then, could the other and much more numerous por- 
tions of our people provide themselves with foreign 
conveniences, and luxuries, but by first fabricating ar- 
ticles, or raising products, which can be sold at home, 
and with the proceeds of which they can present them- 
selves as buyers in the furthest marts of Europe and 
of Asia ? 

And this system not only gives the means, it also 
enlarges, in the same proportion, the desire of pur- 
chasing ; enlarges the circle of our tastes, and, in place 



288 INFLUENCE OF THE USEFUL ARTS, ETC. 

of one foreign commodity, superseded by a correspon- 
ding one of domestic manufacture, it probably intro- 
duces two others, that are new. This is a topic preg- 
nant with interest and instruction ; and it demands 
a much ampler discussion, than can be afforded to it 
here. Whoever has had occasion to visit one of our 
manufacturing towns, and to observe its vicinity, must 
have seen beautiful exemplifications of the truth to 
which I have adverted. He will have seen how indus- 
try is quickened by the presence of gainful employment, 
as well as how it is aided and lightened by the discov- 
eries of science. He will have seen the products of the 
neighboring husbandry increased fourfold, and not un- 
frequently tenfold. He will have seen an air of thrift, 
and even elegance, thrown over the whole population, 
exhibited in their habitations, dress, and manners, 
which betokens improved taste, as well as enlarged 
means. 

I was very forcibly struck with all this, not long 
since, in visiting a town some forty or fifty miles west- 
ward from Albany. The situation is truly sequester- 
ed, being several miles from any great route of travel or 
transport, and in the midst of a sandy and sterile soil. 
A few years ago, however, the attention of the inhabi- 
tants was directed to the dressing of skins, and the 
manufacture of gloves. This business gives employ- 
ment not only to the male adults, who could be spared 
from farming, but also to the females and children ; and, 
with the added blessings of temperance, education, and 
general morality, has been the means of making one 
of the most opulent, respectable, and happy neighbor- 
hoods, which it has been my fortune to witness. As I 
rode through the town, now rapidly increasing in pop- 
ulation and wealth, every house and cottage prettily 
painted and furnished, a fine new church erecting, 
which would be no dishonor to our cities, a large acad- 
emy, offering to all the inhabitants the means of a 
thorough though cheap education, the people all occu- 
pied, and all rejoicing in the consciousness of present 



PRODUCTIVE EMPLOYMENT. 289 

prosperity, and in the hope of a bright and happy fu- 
ture, I could not but think what would have been the 
amount of trade, what the state of tillage, and what, 
above all, the condition of the people, had they confined 
themselves, after the example of some of their neigh- 
bors, exclusively to agriculture. 

4. My limits will permit me to notice but one other 
objection. It is, that the cultivation of the arts, espec- 
ially the establishment of large manufactories, tends to 
demoralize and degrade a population ; that, if they add 
to a nation's wealth, it is at the expense of that which 
is unspeakably more important, — their virtue. Having 
given some attention to this subject, I should gladly 
spread the results before the reader, at greater length 
than my space will allow. I do not doubt that the 
factory operatives of England have been, to a fear- 
ful extent, depraved and ignorant ; but I beheve the 
same remark applies with equal, if not greater, truth, to 
her peasantry. The debased condition of the latter, it 
is true, is less obvious ; because they are scattered over 
the country, and are rarely visited by the tourist, while 
he beholds the corruption of the manufacturing class- 
es collected into conspicuous local points. But Col- 
quhoun, one of the most accurate statistical writers of 
Great Britain, who had no partiality for manufacturing 
industry, has ascertained, that, as a class, operative me- 
chanics, and especially manufacturers, are more orderly 
and better provided for, than the agricultural class ; the 
criminal offences charged being as forty to one hun- 
dred, and the number of paupers as one to two, in favor 
of the manufacturing districts. 

The same opinion is expressed, in an emphatic man- 
ner, and substantiated by a great variety of facts, in 
Dr. lire's late work on the Philosophy of Manufactures, 
which was written immediately after an extended and 
careful inspection of the factory districts, both of Eng- 
land and Scotland. The truth is, the fearful amount 
of vice and suffering, among all the lower orders of 
England, is to be attributed to causes very different from 
25 s. A. 



290 INFLUENCE OF THE USEFUL ARTS, ETC. 

the one here assigned ; and might rather be said to 
exist in spite of manufactures, than on account of 
them. In the mean time, the jealousy which has un- 
happily subsisted between the landed and trading in- 
terests has instigated one party to seize upon this too 
palpable and melancholy fact, and to construe it to suit 
their own convenience. But whoever would determine 
the proper and legitimate influence of these arts, and 
especially as prosecuted by the modern system of fac- 
tory labor, should visit the Manchester of our own Coun- 
try, — Lowell. He will there find, if I am not deceived, 
a practical and conclusive refutation of the objection 
before us. 

One of the most interesting and important questions 
connected with this subject, and one which I intended 
to have discussed at some length, must be omitted in 
this place. It is, by tchat means the growth and cul- 
tivation of these arts among a people can be best pro- 
moted ; whether by the patronage and fostering care 
of the government, or by means simply of private en- 
terprise. This question has been long and much agi- 
tated ; the books of the political economists being on 
one side, and the almost invariable practice of civilized 
nations on the other. Reasons might be assigned for 
at least suspecting, that the far-famed speculations of 
Smith, McCulloch, and their distinguished followers, 
in defence of what they have invidiously termed free 
trade, are not altogether untainted by fallacy ; and that 
the charge, especially, which they so often reiterate 
against the protecting policy, that it is essentially a 
monopoly, taxing one class for the benefit of another, 
is unfounded in fact. Reasons might be assigned for 
the opinion, that these speculations contemplate a state 
of things which nowhere exists, and that conclusions, 
drawn under such circumstances, and not according 
with the judgement or experience of practical men, 
should be received with much caution. But it may 
be well, that such discussions should be waived. How- 
ever cogent may be the arguments in favor of a pro- 



PRODUCTIVE EMPLOYMENT. 291 

tecting policy, unless they are likely to prevail with the 
people of our country, and to secure the firm and con- 
sistent administration of such a policy, they may well 
be spared. Frequent and great changes in the course 
of the government, on such a question, are much more 
injurious than entire neglect : and after the legislation 
of 1833, by which not only an end is to be put to dis- 
criminating duties, in 1842, but the power of all future 
legislatures to lay duties for the protection of domestic 
industry, or the countervailing of foreign restrictions, is 
negatived, and in view, too, of the sudden and capri- 
cious vicissitudes through which our protecting system 
has so often been compelled to pass, it may be wise, 
that the question should rest for a season. 

But, if the career of industry, which we have com- 
menced so auspiciously, and prosecuted so nobly, which 
has enabled us to compete with England, on her own 
favorite ground, and even to supersede her, in the mak- 
ing of coarse cottons, in the markets of her own Indies ; 
if this career is still to be on the ascendant, it will need, 
to use the words already quoted, of Washington, the 
concurrence of virtuous individuals, and the combina- 
tions of economical societies, to rely, as much as possi- 
ble, on the resources of our own country. It will need, 
that the patriotic determination to prefer American'fab- 
rics should become more general and cordial ; that our 
dealers, instead of being compelled to give to domestic 
goods a British mark, in order to secure a sale, should 
find that an American stamp is one of the highest rec- 
ommendations. It will need, that we require, in the 
products of our looms and workshops, not so much 
cheapness as excellence ; that we encourage the high- 
est order of workmanship, and show that we can ap- 
preciate that perfection, towards which all arts ought to 
aspire. It will be necessary, that we spread among our 
people juster views of the influence of manufactures ; 
that we contribute, by means of exhibitions and premi- 
ums, to awaken emulation, and develope inventive ge- 
nius ; and that we train those, who are to follow these 



292 INFLUENCE OF THE USEFUL ARTS, ETC. 

pursuits, in the theory as well as in the practice of their 
art. And above all, will it be necessary, that our people 
become still more preeminent than they now are, for 
intelligence and morality. One of the greatest advan- 
tages which, it is admitted, we enjoy, as a manufac- 
turing people, is in this superiority ; in the greater so- 
briety and mental activity of our workmen. This 
superiority we must not only maintain, but, above all, 
when our arts and manufactures are about to lose the 
protection of the government, we must be careful to ad- 
vance it. We must remember, that it is mind, enlight- 
ened, refined, awakened, virtuous, mind, which must win 
the prize ; and that, in the race of industry, as in every 
other, it is righteousness which exalteth a nation, while 
sin must at length prove the curse of any people.* 

* See Appendix, XII. 



APPENDIX. 



I. Page 11. 

NATURE AND OBJECTS OF TECHNOLOGY. 

The arts considered generally, in their theory and 
practice, as connected with moral, political, and physi- 
cal, science, form the subject of Technology^ which now 
ranks as one of the sciences. 

Technology is variously divided ; by some writers 
into higher and lower ; by others, into universal and 
particular. 

Higher technology, according to one class of author- 
ities, relates to such arts only, as require a higher degree 
of knowledge and skill in those who practise them. 
Such are watchmaking, shipbuilding, &c. According 
to others, higher technology treats of the connexion of 
the arts and trades with the political condition of a na- 
tion, their influence on civilization, &c. &c. 

Universal technology comprehends the principles 
which apply to all the arts; particular technology 
teaches the rationale and practical operations of partic- 
ular arts. Particular technology is subdivided into, 1. 
The knowledge of raw materials ; 2. Instruments and 
machines ; 3. Processes, manipulations, &c. ; 4. Man- 
ufactured articles, as to quality, &c. 

25* 



294 APPENDIX. 



II. Page 11. 

CLASSIFICATION OF THE ARTS. 

The arts are classified, sometimes according to the 
operating powers, or agents, as into mechanical and 
chemical arts ; sometimes, according to the natural de- 
rivation of the raw materials, as into animal, vegetable, 
&c.; sometimes, according to the principal operations 
employed in them, as spinning, iveaving ; and some- 
times, according to the relation of the products. One 
or another of these classifications will be found most 
convenient, according to the special object we have 
in view. Being more or less arbitrary, they are nec- 
essarily imperfect. Beckmann, long eminent as Pro- 
fessor of Technology in the University of Gottingen, 
founds his division, (as does also Hermbstadt, a Ger- 
man writer of authority,) on the last two principles 
mentioned above ; that is, on operations and products. 
Poppe, Professor at Frankfort on the Maine, proposes 

3. thi^eef old division, 1. Mechanical arts; 2. Chemical, 
(wet ;) 3. Chemical, (dry :) subdividing each into such 
arts as serve for, 1. Food; 2. Clothing; 3. Dwellings; 

4. Comfort ; 5. Pleasure. This arrangement was pro- 
posed, in order to avoid separating, unnaturally, those 
things which are nearly related. 

I annex, for the satisfaction of the reader, a full clas- 
sification, proposed by Dr. Ure, in his ^ Philosophy of 
Manufactures.' 

Manufactures are divisible into two great classes, ac- 
cording as they change the external form, or the inter- 
nal constitution of their raw materials. Hence the dis- 
tinction of mechanical and chemical arts. Each class 
may be subdivided into three families, according as it 
operates on mineral, vegetable, or animal, substances ; 
thus presenting to the student three orders of manu- 



CLASSIFICATION OF THE ARTS. 295 

factures, which possess many interesting natural af- 
finities. 

Iron will afford the means of illustrating these rela- 
tions. The ore of the metal is detected, and valued by 
chemical research ; but it is dug and brought to the 
market, by mechanical agency. The chemist conducts 
the process of smelting it into cast iron, as well as the 
conversion of the crude metal into malleable iron and 
steel, aided by the ministry of the engineer. For the 
purposes of art, iron is deprived of its metallic state, 
and acquires many new forms and qualities, by new 
combinations of its elementary particles. Its various 
oxides, sulphurets, salts, &c., therefore, belong to chem- 
ical manufactures. The mechanical group compre- 
hends the operations of the foundry, the forge, the roll- 
ing-mill, the slitting-mill, the jflatting-mill, &c. 

Mechanical Arts, 

The general classification of the mechanical manu- 
factures may be made either in the order of their re- 
spective subjects, as these are arranged, by the natural 
historian, in the mineral, vegetable, and animal, king- 
doms, or according to the nature of the mechanical and 
physical actions exercised on these subjects. On the 
former plan, analogous arts would often be necessarily 
disjoined, in consequence of the disjoined origin of their 
materials, however similar their principles and processes 
might be. Thus, the woollen and cotton manufactures, 
though closely allied, would need to be separately con- 
sidered, under the two distinct departments of the ani- 
mal and vegetable world. 

The true philosophical principle of classifying the 
mechanical manufactures, is to arrange them in the 
order of the general properties of matter, which it is 
their object to modify. The several properties, on 
which mechanical and physical forces are made to act, 
in order to change the forms of bodies, for the uses of 
life, are the following : 

I. Divisibility ; II. Impenetrability, or Repulsive- 



296 APPENDIX. 

ness ; III. Permeability, or Porosity ; IV. Cohesive- 
ness ; V. Ductility ; VI. Malleability ; VII. Inertia ; 
VIII. Gravitation ; IX. Elasticity ; X. Softness ; XL 
Tenacity ; XII. Fusibility ; XIII. Crystallizability. 
I. Divisibility. — To this head, may be referred the 
following processes of art: 1. Pulverizing dry sub- 
stances ; 2. Triturating solid substances with liquids 
into a pasty consistence ; 3. Boring ; 4. Sawing ; 5. 
Rasping and chipping ; 6. Tearing ; 7. Abrading sur- 
faces ; 8. Splitting; 9. Planing; 10. Turning surfaces; 
11. Shearing surfaces; 12. Granulating and shot- 
casting; 13. Distilling; 14. Subliming; 15. Explo- 
ding, or blasting, for mining purposes ; 16. Comminu- 
tion of earths and soils. 

1. Pulverization, — This operation is performed by 
various machines, according to the nature of the sub- 
stance to be pulverized ; such as corn-mills, flour-mills, 
drug-mills, manganese, chrome ore, and other mills for 
pulverizing mineral substances ; dye-mills, stamp-mills, 
and other crushing machinery, &c. 

2. Trituration. — To this head belong color, or paint 
mills, flint, and other pottery mills, and comminuting 
processes ; certain drug-mills ; patio, and other amalga- 
mation works, &c. 

3. Boring, — Here, the action of the cutter and drill 
is employed to form cylindrical cavities for steam-en- 
gines, hydraulic-presses, pump-barrels; cannon, gun 
barrels ; mine and Artesian-well boring, &c. 

4. Sawing, — Sawing comprehends every species of 
mill for cutting off" flat plates of timber, stone, metal, 
&c. ; such as saw-mills, of every kind, marble-mills, 
stone-cutting works, &c. 

5. Rasping and chipping, — Under these titles would 
fall masonry, or stone-hewing, the mechanical part of 
statuary ; rasping-mills for logwood, beet root, and ma- 
chines for chipping the teeth of wheel patterns, &c. 

6. Tearing. — To this head may be referred paper- 
making, as well as flax-heckling, for tearing off" its pa- 
renchymatous matter, threshing-machines, &c. 



CLASSIFICATION OF THE ARTS. 297 

7. Abrasion of surfaces. — This process will com- 
prehend all filing and polishing operations, such as 
grinding and polishing of metals, of glass, marble, &c. 
Mirror and lens making belong to this class, as well as 
cutlery-grinding of every kind. 

8. Splitting, — Here would be considered the art 
of splitting skins for cards and parchment ; splitting 
timber for laths, whalebone, and other fibrous sub- 
stances, &c. 

9. Planing. — Planing-machines, now so beneficially 
used in the working of metals for machinery of every 
kind, as well as for flooring, and other planks of wood, 
fall under this division, as well as the key-groove cut- 
ting machines, and many others. 

10. Turning. — Every species of turning-lathe, in 
which a cutting edge is applied to surfaces in a state 
of rapid revolution, belongs to this process. 

11. Shearing. — This process includes that beautiful 
branch of manufacture, by which woollen cloth, after 
being woven, is finished, with a soft, smooth surface. 
It is performed on the principle of shaving, by moving 
a slightly inclined, or nearly horizontal blade, close to 
the downy surface. As mowing machines operate in a 
similar way, they may be considered under this head. 

12. Granulating, and shot-casting. — In these pro- 
cesses, the property of divisibility is acted on by the 
solvent power of heat, which, skilfully made use of, 
saves the labor of grinding a fusible solid. The melted 
mass being nearly void of cohesion, is separable, like 
water, into a shower of drops, which congeal in the 
course of their descent from the top of the shot-towers 
into the water-cistern at their base. The refiner of 
gold and silver, and the alloyer in general, granulate 
their melted metal, by pouring it on a bundle of moist 
twigs, or by trituration in a cold mortar, 

13. Distilling. — Here, again, the force of caloric 
divides matter, whether solid or liquid, into separate 
substances, in the order of their expansiveness, by that 
physical agent. All the varieties of stills belong to this 



298 APPENDIX. 

head, all the mechanical processes of the rectifier and 
compounder of alcohol, the manufacturers of coal gas, 
and pyroligneous acid, &c. 

14. Siibliming, — The same physical influence is here 
employed, to divide and comminute, by separating the 
more volatile parts of bodies, which, in the aeriform 
state of repulsiveness among their particles being sud- 
denly cooled, precipitate in an impalpable powder. 

15. Exploding^ 07" blasting, — The property of di- 
visibility is in this case acted upon, and made effec- 
tive, by the sudden generation of elastic fluid, in such 
force, as to overcome the cohesion of the solid mass. 
Under this head might perhaps be considered the sim- 
ple action of ignition, in effecting the disintegration of 
rocks for mining purposes. 

16. Comminuting^ or disintegrating earths and 
soils. — Tillage, with the spade, pickaxe, plough, har- 
row, &c. 

To till the ground, or break the stubborn glebe with 
the furrow, is merely a division of its parts, to render 
the earthy substances friable, in order that the roots 
of plants may insinuate themselves more easily into it ; 
that the rains and dews may penetrate more readily to 
these roots ; that any excess of water may more freely 
exhale ; and lastly, that the air of the atmosphere may 
get access to the vegetable mould of the soil, and con- 
vert it into soluble vegetable food, on principles devel- 
oped by chemistry. The proper comminution of the 
soil, by the plough and the harrow, is serviceable, also, 
in destroying weeds, in bringing up to the surface fresh 
layers of earth, incorporating with it manure and other 
improvers, and in giving a slope to the ground favora- 
ble to its drainage. The importance of the pulverizing 
process is so well known, that tillage and agriculture 
have been long used as synonymous terms. All its pro- 
cesses act on the divisibility of the soil in three ways : 
1. By the spade; 2. By the pickaxe and hoe; 3. By 
the plough, with its wedge-shaped share, which cuts 
obhquely through the clod, and turns it over to one side. 



CLASSIFICATION OF THE ARTS. 299 

Spade-tillage suits best for a soil which is uniform in 
texture, deep, compact, level, and not very stony or 
rnoist. That of the pickaxe, or mattock, is most proper 
for land that is stony, dry, difficult to penetrate, and 
uneven, or sloping in its surface. The plough, though 
a less perfect pulverizing agent, is more expeditious, 
economical, and generally applicable to grounds, ex- 
cepting to steep declivities. The best form of plough- 
share, for dividing the soil, is an interesting problem in 
mechanical philosophy. 

II. Impenetrability. — This property gives rise to 
works for separating, by compression, the liquid from 
the solid parts of bodies, in virtue of the impenetrabil- 
ity of matter. Under this class are comprehended oil- 
mills, sugar-mills, beet-root-presses, cocoanut-lard-mills, 
all of which operate either by the flat pressure of a hy- 
draulic or screw press, or by the pressure of surfaces 
rolling on each other ; the object being to extract in- 
compressible liquid matter from the interstitial pores of 
a solid. Die-presses for coining, and transferring en- 
gravings from hard steel to soft steel or copper, may 
be arranged either under impenetrability or condensa- 
bility. 

III. Permeability. — This property admits of one or 
more matters to pass through or impregnate the inter- 
stices of solids. Filtering apparatus, for sugar-refiners, 
for purifying oils, and many other liquids, by means of 
bibulous paper, sand, stones, with or without external 
pressure, as well as dyeing, calico-printing, letter-press, 
copper-plate, and lithographic, printing, belong to this 
head. 

IV., v., VI. Cohesion, Ductility, Malleability or 
Laminability. — These are kindred properties, and are 
the foundations of kindred works, such as wire-drawing, 
and tube-drawing apparatus, rolling-mills, flatting-mills, 
tilting-mills, laminating-mills, gold and silver leaf-beat- 
ing, &c. 

VII., VIII. Inertia, Gravitation. — In reference to 
these properties, the raising, lowering, and removing, 



300 APPENDIX. 

weights, come to be considered. These effects are pro- 
duced by cranes, capstans, windlasses, gins for raising 
coals and other minerals ; pulleys, wheels and axles ; 
inclined planes for joining different canal levels ; pumps, 
for lifting water ; dredging machines ; carriages of every 
kind. The equilibrium of architecture, and of ship- 
building, may be treated here. 

IX., X., XL Elasticity, Softness, and Tenaci- 
ty. — These three properties are combined in the consti- 
tution of tortile fibres, used for making webs of various 
kinds, and give rise to the arts of spinning, knitting, and 
weaving, mineral, vegetable, and animal, filaments ; the 
principal of which are the manufactures of cotton, wool, 
flax, and silk. Rope-making and wire-working belong 
also to this head. Under tortility must likewise be 
considered the processes of fulling, felting, and the 
manufacture of hats. 

XII. Fusibility. — To this property belong foundries 
of the different metals, and the mechanical part of glass- 
making, as well as casting figures in plaster, wax, &c. 

XIII. Crystallizability. — This property includes 
the various physical principles of the manufactures of 
saline substances, such as salt-works, nitre-works, alum- 
works, &c. 

The sixth of the above divisions comprehends the 
mechanical arts most interesting to man. Here he has 
exercised his best talents, in producing raiment of every 
variety for his comfort and decoration ; and here, accor- 
dingly, he has organized systems of industry, no less re- 
markable for their magnitude than for their perfection. 
In certain parts of the clothing manufactures, moreover, 
automatic machinery has been so extensively substituted 
for the labors of intelligence, that the superintendence 
of young persons has come to supersede the costly toil 
of adults, to such an extent, that the vast multitudes of 
children thus employed have, of late years, attracted 
the earnest consideration of the pubHc, and have, in 
consequence, led the legislature to frame a code of fac- 
tory laws for their protection. 



CLASSIFICATION OF THE ARTS. 301 

Chemical Manufactures. 

Those arts which involve the operation of chemical 
affinities, and consequently, a change in the constitution 
of their subject matter, may be distributed into three 
groups, according to the kingdom of Nature to which 
they belong: — the mineral, the vegetable, and the ani- 
mal. 

Class I. The chemical manufactures employed on 
mineral, or, more accurately speaking, inorganic, mat- 
ter, may be arranged conveniently under four heads: 
i. Those which operate on metallic bodies ; ii. On 
earthy and stony substances ; iii. On combustibles ; iv. 
On saline substances. 

Class II. The chemical manufactures which modify 
vegetable substances may be distributed according to 
the chemical analogies of these substances, as starch, 
sugar, oils, essences, &c. 

Class III. The chemical manufactures which modi- 
fy animal substances may likewise be distributed ac- 
cording to the chemical analogies of their respective 
objects : as gelatine, or glue, albumen, skin, horn, &c. 

Class I. Order i. Arts and manufactures of metallic 
substances: 1. Extraction, purification, alloying of the 
precious metals, gold, silver, &c., and their different 
chemical preparations. 2. The arts of smelting cop- 
per, and making its alloys, its saline and other prepara- 
tions. 3. The arts of smelting iron, and making its al- 
loys, its saline and other prepartions. 4. The arts of 
smehing lead, &c. 5. The arts of smelting tin, &c. 
6. The arts of smelting mercury, &c. 7. The arts of 
smelting zinc, &c. 8. The arts of smelting bismuth, 
&c. 9. The arts of smelting antimony, &c. 10. The 
arts of smelting cobalt, &c. 11. The arts of smelting 
nickel, &c. 12. The arts of smelting manganese, &c. 
13. The arts of smelting arsenic, &c. 14. The arts 
of smelting chromium, &c. 15. The arts of extracting 
the other metals, cadmium, bismuth, rhodium, &c. 

Class I. Order ii. Arts and manufactures of earthy 
26 s. A. 



302 APPENDIX. 

and stony substances : 1. Those which operate on cal- 
careous substances ; such as Hmestones, gypsum, fluor- 
spar, &c. Mortars. 2. Those which operate on argil- 
laceous earth, or clay ; as the manufactures of pottery, 
porcelain, &c. 3. Those which operate on silicious 
matter. Manufacture of glass. 

Class I. Order iii. Arts and manufactures of com- 
bustible substances: 1. Sulphur. Manufacture of sul- 
phuric acid. 2. Coal. Manufacture of coal gas, and 
its various products. 3. Amber, petroleum, bitumen, 
asphaltum. 

Class I. Order iv. Arts and manufactures of miner- 
al saline substances: 1. Rock or sea salt; salt-works 
of various kinds ; manufacture of muriatic acid, and of 
chlorine. Art of bleaching. 2. Alum, its manufac- 
ture. 3. Natron, or soda, its manufacture. 4. Pot- 
ash, its manufacture. 5. Sal-ammoniac, its manufac- 
ture. 6. Nitre, its manufacture ; that of gunpowder, 
nitric acid, &c. 7. Borax, its manufacture. 8. Sul- 
phate of magnesia, its manufacture. 

Class II. The chemical manufactures of vegetable 
substances. 1 . The art of extracting and refining sugar. 
2. The art of extracting and purifying starch. 3. The 
art of making artificial gum. 4. Extraction and purifi- 
cation of fixed oils, drying and unctuous oils, such as lin- 
seed oil, castor oil, nut oil, &c., oil of olives, of almonds, 
of the palm, of the cocoa-nut, &c. Manufacture of oil 
soaps. 5. Extraction and purification of volatile oils, 
such as oil of turpentine, citron, anise, cinnamon, laven- 
der, &c. Art of the perfumer. 6. Art of purifying 
and bleaching wax. 7. Extraction and purification of 
resinous bodies, such as common rosin, lac, mastic, &c. 
Manufacture of varnishes and sealing-wax. 8. Extrac- 
tion of caoutchouc ; caoutchoucine. Manufacture of 
water-proof cloth. 9. Preparation of extracts for the 
apothecary ; extract of nut-galls. Manufacture of ink. 
10. Extraction of the coloring matter of plants, as of 
madder, saflilower, archil, logwood, weld, indigo, &c. 
Arts of dyeing and calico-printing. 1 1 . Arf. of ferment- 



CONNEXION OF THE USEFUL AND FINE ARTS. 303 

ing vegetable juices and extracts into wine, beer^ &c. 
Breweries, distilleries, &c. 12. Art of fermenting veg- 
etable juices and extracts into vinegar. 13. Art of fer- 
menting dough into bread. Baking. 14. Decompo- 
sition of wood by fire in close vessels. Pyroxilic acid, 
spirit, and naphtha. 15. Preparation of composts by 
the putrid decomposition of vegetable substances. Ag- 
riculture as a chemical art. 

Class III. The chemical manufactures of animal 
substances are, 1. The art of extracting and purifying 
gelatine, or the manufacture of glue, size, isinglass, &c. 
2. The art of extracting butter from milk. Manufac- 
ture of cheeses. 3. The art of converting skin into 
leather, or tanning. 4. The art of the tallow-chandler. 
Purification of spermaceti. 5. The manufacture of 
tallow and other soaps. 6. Preparation of animal pig- 
ments, — ^carmine from cochineal. 7. The art of curing 
animal food. 8. Decomposition of animal substances 
by fire. Manufacture of sal-ammoniac, and of Prussian 
blue. 

The preceding table presents merely the more gener- 
al objects and subdivisions. 



III. Page 12. 

CONNEXION OF THE USEFUL AND FINE ARTS. 

This connexion is in some cases very intimate. For 
example, silks, porcelain, calicoes, &c., derive much of 
their value from the designs with which they are embel- 
lished ; and hence the necessity of combining the culti- 
vation of the Arts of Design with the fabrication of these 
articles. So in building and engineering, Drawing is an 
indispensable prerequisite. It has been found, too, that 
in many cases, such as architecture, the nearer we ap- 
proach to abstract beauty of form, the more perfectly we 
attain that which is useful, convenient, or economical. 



304 APPENDIX. 

The following extract from Ure's ^Philosophy of 
Manufactures^ will show how fully this connexion is 
appreciated by the French, and by what means they 
have attained the superiority which distinguishes them 
in certain departments of industry. 

The modes in which taste is cultivated at Lyons, in 
connexion with the silk manufacture, deserve particu- 
lar study and imitation. Among the weavers of the 
place, the children, and every body connected with de- 
vising patterns, much attention is devoted to every thing 
in any way connected with the beautiful, either in fig- 
ure or color. Weavers may be seen, in their holy day 
leisure, gathering flowers, and gi*ouping them in the 
most engaging combinations. They are continually 
suggesting new designs to their employers ; and are 
thus the fruitful source of elegant patterns. 

There is hardly any considerable house in Lyons, in 
which there is not a partner who owes his place in it to 
his success as an artist. The town of Lyons is so con- 
scious of the value of such studies, that it contributes 
twenty thousand francs per annum to the government 
establishment of the School of Arts, which takes charge 
of every youth who shows an aptitude for drawing, or 
imitative design of any kind, applicable to manufac- 
tures. Hence all the eminent painters, sculptors, even 
botanists and florists, of Lyons, become eventually asso- 
ciated w^ith the staple trade, and devote to it their hap- 
piest conceptions. In the principal school, that of St. 
Peter's, there are about one hundred and eighty stu- 
dents, every one of whom receives from the town a gra- 
tuitous education in art for five years ; comprehending 
delineations in anatomy, botany, architecture, and loom- 
pattern drawing. A botanical garden is attached to the 
school. The government allows three thousand one 
hundred francs a year to the school at Lyons. The 
school supplies the scholars with every thing but the 
materials, and allows them to reap the benefit of their 
works. Their professor of painting is a man of distin- 
guished talent, well known to connoisseurs. 



CONNEXION OF THE USEFUL AND FINE ARTS. 305 

The French manufacturer justly considers that his pat- 
tern is the principal element of his success in trade ; for 
the mere handiwork of weaving is a simple affair, with 
the improved Jacquard loom. He therefore visits the 
school, and picks out the boy who promises, by taste 
and invention, to suit his purpose the best. He invites 
him to his home, boards him, and gives him a small 
salary, to be gradually advanced. One gentleman told 
Dr. Bowring that he had three such youths in his em- 
ployment ; to the youngest of whom he gave one thous- 
and francs, or forty pounds, [or one hundred and eigh- 
ty-four dollars,] per annum. After three or four years, 
if the young artist's success be remarkable, he may have 
his salary raised to double or treble that sum ; and when 
his reputation is once established, he is sure of the offer 
of a partnership. Such is the general history of many 
of the schoolboys of Lyons. Even the French weaver, 
who earns only fifteen or twenty pence a day, prides 
himself upon his knowledge of design ; he wall turn 
over several hundred patterns in his possession, and 
descant on their relative merits, seldom erring far in 
predicting the success of any new style. By this dis- 
position, the minds of the silk- weavers in France be- 
come elevated and refined, instead of being stultified in 
gin-shops, as those of the English too frequently are. 
In flower patterns, the French designs are remarkably 
free from incongruities, being copied from Nature, with 
scientific precision. They supply taste to the whole 
world, in proportion to the extent of their exportations, 
which amount to one hundred and ten millions out of 
one hundred and forty. In the Lyons school, collec- 
tions of silk fabrics may be studied, extending over a 
period of four thousand years, with explanations of the 
i;nodes in which every pattern was produced, from the 
rude silk of the Egyptian mummies to the figured webs 
of the last year. 

There are also weaving-schools, containing from 
sixty to eighty scholars. In these, a pattern being ex- 
hibited, they are required to exercise their invention, 



306 APPENDIX. 

immediately, as to the best means of producing the 
design on a piece of silk goods. The master removes 
such difficulties as are occasionally encountered, and 
leads them on to the successful accomplishment of the 
task. 

Within a few years, a large legacy has been left by 
General Martin, for the purpose of establishing another 
institution, similar to the school of St. Peter. 

Their superiority in art is turned to good account, in 
many other French manufactures. Notwithstanding 
the double price of the raw material in France, their 
fancy articles in iron and steel are exported in large 
quantities. Their bronze figures have made their way 
into all parts of the world, along-side of their silk goods ; 
both being equally productions of fine taste, and there- 
fore yielding profitable returns. 



IV. Pages 24 and 260. 

THE IMPORTANCE OF SCIENCE TO THE MECHANIC. 

[Extracts from an Address delivered December 9, 1835, at the 
opening of the first course of Lectures before the Mechanics' Literary 
and Benevolent Society of Poughkeepsie, New York, by A. Pot- 
ter.] 

I NEED hardly remind this assembly, that the com- 
mencement of such an enterprise is an event of some 
public importance. Though composed, for the most 
part, of mechanics, and to be conducted with a special 
view to their improvement, it by no means follows that 
this association is interesting or important only to them. 
In contributing to their welfare, it must contribute, in 
the same proportion, to the welfare of all. For, be it 
remembered, that the manufacturers, mechanics, and ar- 
tisans, of this place, form its most numerous, and, I may 
add, its most useful and influential class. As the coun- 
try supplies the raw materials of human subsistence, 



IMPORTANCE OF SCIENCE TO THE MECHANIC. 307 

and is occupied principally by an agricultural popula- 
tion ; so it is in towns and cities that these materials 
are worked up into articles of use and luxury, by me- 
chanics and artisans, who, with their families, consti- 
tute its principal inhabitants. They are the young 
mechanics and apprentices of a town, therefore, whose 
influence is to be most powerfully felt, a few years 
hence, on its industry and enterprise ; at its local and 
general elections ; in the support of its schools and 
churches, and on all occasions of public interest or 
emergency. If the town is to be improved, enlighten- 
ed, elevated, who can do it, so effectually, as its most 
numerous and active citizens ? and if it is to decline in 
morals, intelligence, and prosperity, believe me, that it 
is among this class that the leprosy will first break out, 
and its foul taint be most widely and fatally diffused. 
Tell me, of any town, the intellectual and moral con- 
dition of its mechanics and operatives, and I will tell 
you what the condition of the town itself is. Tell me 
the character of its apprentices, and I will tell you 
what its condition ere long must he. 

In view of these facts, I must profess my amazement 
at the apathy which so generally prevails respecting 
the intellectual and moral welfare of mechanics; and 
my still greater amazement at the contempt (worthy 
only of a dark age) with which some are disposed to 
look down on this most useful, and in cities, most nu- 
merous and powerful, class. Who can observe the 
workings of the social system, or peruse the records of 
the past, without feeling that theirs is a commanding 
influence? What class, during the last seven centu- 
ries, occupies a more prominent place, in the history 
of civilization and of constitutional liberty ? Where, 
amidst the dense darkness of the middle ages, first 
arose a taste for the comforts and refinements of life ? 
Who first taught the feudal lord to encourage industry, 
instead of idleness ; to substitute the improvement of 
his estate, and the embellishment of his castle, and the 
cultivation of personal refinement; in place of a coarse 



308 APPENDIX. 

and prodigal hospitality ? Who first supplied commo- 
dities for modern commerce, thus opening friendly in- 
tercourse between distant, dissimilar, and hitherto hos- 
tile, nations, and making the inprovements and discov- 
eries of one the common property of all ? And, above 
all, who first rekindled the long-extinguished spirit of 
civil liberty ? or, rather, let me say, who, for the first 
time, lit up that glorious spirit, which alone deserves the 
name of civil liberty, — a spirit which demanded writ- 
ten guarantees for individual rights, and taught that 
the state, instead of being what ancient republicans 
considered it, — a stupendous idol, to whose honor and 
aggrandizement the freedom and happiness of individ- 
uals were to be profusely sacrificed, was but an agent, 
or servant, appointed for the benefit of all, and re- 
sponsible to all, alike, for its faithful stewardship ? To 
these questions. History returns one and the same an- 
swer. It was from the free cities of Europe^ founded, 
sustained, and enriched, by mechanics and tradesmen, 
that these blessings took their rise. It was these me- 
chanics and tradesmen, who first conceived a taste for 
the arts and comforts of peace, who communicated 
this taste to the higher classes, and supphed commerce 
with its rich freights of wealth and utility. It was they, 
who first taught the lesson, not yet fully learned in 
Europe, of systematic and successful resistance to ar- 
bitrary power. Enterprizing and intelligent, knowing 
what was due to their industry and skill, and feeling 
that royalty itself looked for protection against the in- 
solence of haughty and restless barons to their prowess 
and wealth, they claimed to be represented in the coun- 
cils of the state. Thus arose the tiers etat, or third es- 
tate of the realm, which has for so many ages held the 
balance of power in Europe between the monarch and 
his nobles, and which, as the commons, or middling 
class, has been infusing more and more of freedom into 
the constitution of every civilized people. 

In this land, above all others, it becomes us to make 
grateful and respectful mention of the services which 



IMPORTANCE OF SCIENCE TO THE MECHANIC. 309 

mechanics have rendered to the cause of liberty. Their 
enterprise, be it remembered, was among the causes 
which first excited the jealousy of the mother country 
towards her American colonies. It was by her oppres- 
sive and unnatural efforts to strangle that enterprise, 
that she contributed to weaken the ties of affection 
which bound them to her, and awoke on these shores 
a cry for independence. In the fearless remonstrances 
which were laid at the feet of royalty ; in the negotia- 
tions which were opened ; in the measures of retaliation 
which were concerted and put in execution ; in the firm 
and enlightened policy which saw distinctly its object, 
and moved right onward to its attainment, who were 
more active or influential than the mechanics ? And 
when, at length, the die was cast, and the tidings from 
Lexington and Bunker Hill proclaimed that there was 
no hope, but in arms and in the God of battles, who 
stood forth, conspicuous, in the field, in the cabinet, 
and at foreign courts ? In the army of the Revolution, 
I can recall no name, Washington's only excepted, 
which occupies a prouder place in the memory and 
affections of a grateful people, than that of Nathaniel 
Greene, the blacksmith. In the deliberations of Con- 
gress, and in the negotiations with foreign powers, 
I see no worthier representatives of the cool, sagacious, 
inflexible, upright, and far-reaching statesman, than 
Benjamin Franklin, the printer^ and Roger Sherman, 
the shoemaker, I need not add the names of others, 
scarcely less honored. If we would know what me- 
chanics were, at the era of the revolution ; and what, 
in point of influence, they must ever be, in a country 
like ours, let this suffice : — Of the committee of five, 
appointed to draw up the Declaration of Independence, 
two were mechanics.^* Of the brave men who led our 
armies, he, whom Hamilton, while he honored Wash- 
ington as ' the first man of the country,' did not hesi- 
tate to style even ' the first soldier of the Revolution,'! 

* Benjamin Franklin and Roger Sherman. 

t Nathaniel Greene. This fact is stated by Mr. Verplanck, in his 



310 APPENDIX. 

was a mechanic. He who was the first choice of his 
country as her representative at imperial courts, and 
who, sent to baffle the arts of practised diplomatists, 
and face the menaces of exasperated power, did it all, 
and did it triumphantly — was a mechanic,'^ And, 
finally, he, who in congress and in conventions, by the 
mere force of intellect and knowledge, without any 
gifts of eloquence or external show, could still com- 
mand the confidence and sway the opinions of the wis- 
est; the man, who, to use the language of Jefferson, 
'' never said a foolish thing in his life," and whom an- 
other colleague described as '^a slow-spoken and al- 
most tongue-tied man, but with a head as clear as 
light," he, also was a mechanic,^ 

I shall not be suspected, I trust, of recurring to these 
facts for purposes of flattery. I recur to them, that I 
may show young men what may be expected of those 
who have such models. I recur to them, that I may 
exhibit, to all who hear me, the true position, both po- 
litical and moral, in which mechanics stand ; and the 
deep interest which it becomes us all to feel in their 
welfare and improvement. And, above all, I recur to 
them, to prove that manual labor and study are not, 
as they are generally thought to be, incompatible ; that 
it is perfectly practicable for a young man to be culti- 
vating the highest talents, nursing the noblest purposes, 
drinking deeply from the purest springs of knowledge, 
while he still pursues, with diligence and zeal, his daily 
task in the forge, or at the work-bench.J It is time to 
do away that unworthy prejudice, which has so long 
tended to estrange from each other the laboring man 

Address before the New-York Mechanics' Institute, in 1833, on the 
authority of the late Col. Marinus Willett. 

* Benjamin Franklin. 

t Roger Sherman. 

X For an interesting example, in the case of the * literary Black- 
smith,' see * Importance of Useful Education and Practical Knowl- 
edge,' &c., by Edward Everett, forming the nineteenth volume of 
• The ScHOOi. Library.' 



IMPORTANCE OF SCIENCE TO THE MECHANIC. 311 

and the student ; which serves to perpetuate that dis- 
tinction between workingmen and gentlemen^ which, 
in a country Uke ours, where there are no hereditary 
prerogatives, and where every man must be, at last, 
the artificer of his own fortune, is, I do not hesitate to 
say, of all distinctions, the most absurd and pernicious. 
However it originates ; whether, as formerly, in a dis- 
position to stigmatize all labor ; or whether, as more 
recently, in a wish to exalt manual labor at the expense 
of that which is intellectual, it merits only execration. 
I give but utterance to the spirit of our institutions, 
and to the views of all good and wise men, when I say, 
that in this land we are, or at least ought to be, all 
workingmen and all gentlemen. If there is any dis- 
grace in being a workingman, in winning one's way to 
respectability and usefulness by means of effort and in- 
dustry, let it attach to him who toils with his brain, as 
well as to him who works with his hands. And if 
there is any honor in it, let it not be reserved for him 
alone who wields the axe or the hammer ; but let him, 
who adds to this the faithful use of his mental and 
moral powers ; and him, too, who, though not a me- 
chanic, nor in the ordinary sense, a laborer, still spares 
no toil, if he can but restore his client to his rights, or 
his patients to health ; and him, who, while the me- 
chanic is stretched upon his couch, in profound and 
refreshing slumbers, has to keep anxious and wasting 
vigils, preparing for his place in the desk, or in the dis- 
charge of official duty, — let him, too, receive his share 
of honor, at the hands of the Republic. In this coun- 
try, where so few are born to opulence, and none to 
station, labor of some kind is the inheritance of all ; 
and whoever pursues that labor, in a liberal and en- 
lightened spirit ; striving to cultivate his talents, and re- 
fine his taste ; ready for every good word and work, and 
never content while he may win for himself a brighter 
name, and a larger sphere of action ; he is, in the truiest 
and highest sense, a gentleman, — and, if he lives, will 
one day take his place beside the proudest of the land. 



312 APPENDIX. 

But how can young men, situated as the mechanic 
and apprentice are, still make great advances in useful 
knowledge ? and why should they do it ? 

First, then, as to the manner in which it may be 
done. You will perceive, here, that I suppose the 
young mechanic to continue his accustomed occupa- 
tions, and that, too, with no remission of industry or 
zeal. He is, in this respect, to do all that the most 
scrupulous could ask ; and yet he shall have time enough 
and means enough, to make great attainments in useful 
knowledge. 

He shall have time enough. You have not failed to 
discover, before this, that a man's achievements do not 
depend upon the time allowed him. They depend, 
rather, on his energy and spirit. To a listless, lethar- 
gic, idle man, you might give ages, and he would effect 
nothing ; whereas a man, full of fire, and bent on some 
great end, seems to have the art of converting his min- 
utes into hours. Husbanding every moment, with a 
miser's care, he accomplishes, in those little fragments 
of leisure, which most men think nothing of wasting, 
works that might seem to have required years. And 
perhaps they did require years, for minutes, multiplied, 
swell at last into years ; and many a one, whose apolo- 
gy it is, that he lost only a moment here, and a moment 
there, will at length find, when he reaches the age of 
fifty or sixty, that these little moments have expanded 
into years, long years, which stand a melancholy blank 
in the history of his life. It is related of the celebra- 
ted Madame Campan, that she composed one or more 
of those works, which have been so popular, during the 
brief intervals which were accustomed to elapse between 
the moment of her obeying the summons to dinner and 
that of sitting down at table. Lord Brougham, whose 
labors present such a miracle to the scholar of these 
degenerate days ; who, in addition to his cares and la- 
bors in the courts and in parliament, sufficient of them- 
selves to overwhelm ordinary men, finds time to master 
all the discoveries of modern science ; to take place 



IMPORTANCE OF SCIENCE TO THE MECHANIC. 313 

himself in the very front rank of writers and inquirers ; 
nay, to write books on natural theology ; who can be 
seen at one hour, probing the abuses in the pubhc char- 
ities of the country ; at the next, investigating the state 
of popular education, and giving to that education new 
impulse ; and, perhaps, before the day closes, bestow- 
ing a last revision on some work designed for the in- 
struction or entertainment of the common people ; this 
man tells us, as the secret of his labors, that he has 
work cut out for every moment , and that he never 
postpones for an hour what can he done now. And 
another name,"^ associated with, or rather, under Provi- 
dence, the source and strength of, one of the greatest 
religious movements recorded in history, a name which 
will ever be quoted as an example of energy and moral 
power, — can hardly be recalled, without thinking of that 
favorite motto of his, — always in haste, but never in a 
hurry. 

Here, then, is the way in which you can make time 
for the pursuit of knowledge. It is by gathering up the 
fragments, that nothing be lost ; by hoarding them with 
a frugal care, or rather by spending them with a prov- 
ident liberality, in laying up stores of useful science, 
which, at some future day, will repay you a hundred- 
fold. Consider, for a moment, what these fragments 
amount to, in a year. It will be admitted, I presume, 
that, after meeting all the claims of your business, your 
family, your health, and your religion, you can still save, 
out of every day, in ^' odd ends" of time, nearly, if not 
quite, two hours, which is about one eighth of all the 
hours not spent in sleep. Thus, one eighth of the 
whole of life may be devoted to intellectual improve- 
ment ; amounting (should a man live to the age of 
three score) to almost eight entire years. And is that 
all ? Far from it. These brief intervals for study, 
recurring each day and several times a day, will, if 
improved, supply constant materials for interesting 

* John Wesley. 
27 s. A. 



314 APPENDIX. 

thought, during your hours of labor ; so that not only- 
may knowledge be acquired, while you are poring over 
books ; but that knowledge can be digested and incor- 
porated with the very substance of the mind, while you 
are at work ; nay, can actually be amplified and en- 
riched by the new applications and illustrations which 
will be suggested by your pursuits, or by intercourse 
with others. 

And to this, be it observed, the present state of the 
arts is eminently conducive. That division of labor, 
which is often adverted to, as one of the distinguishing 
features of modern industry, and which has found its 
way into every kind of mechanical labor, is not more 
favorable to the production and perfecting of material 
fabrics, than it is, when properly improved, to the cul- 
tivation and elevation of the human mind. It is often 
objected to such division, that, by simplifying labor, and 
superseding, in consequence, much of the thought and 
care formerly necessary, it tends to degrade the artisan 
into a mere machine. And so it does, if the artisan 
chooses to be degraded ; chooses to spend the leisure, 
thus given him, in a state of mere mental vacancy. But 
why should he not consider it as a precious gift from 
heaven ; as so much time rescued from toil, and de- 
signed for intellectual and moral improvement? To 
the reflecting and philanthropic mind, this is the high- 
est end of all those grand inventions, devised by mod- 
ern genius, to abridge, or supersede, human labor. 
They are not intended, by Providence, simply to pour 
wealth into the coffers of the few, nor even to augment" 
the merely physical enjoyments of the many. Their 
aim, rather and above all, is, to redeem a large portion 
of that time which has hitherto been given to exhaust- 
ing labor ; but which, henceforth, can and should be 
devoted to elevating the intellectual, moral, and relig- 
ious condition of the workman. 

Viewing the subject in this light, I think I do not 
exaggerate, when I say, that a mechanic, in these days, 
may, in effect, devote nearly one quarter of his time to 



IMPORTANCE OF SCIENCE TO THE MECHANIC. 315 

mental improvement ; or, which is the same thing, he 
may, in the course of an ordinary hfe, save, for this best 
and most important of all purposes, the entire space of 
twelve or fifteen years, which, as usually spent, is worse 
than wasted. And what facilities does he not enjoy, 
for the profitable employment of those years. Good 
books have become so abundant and cheap, that a man 
of very limited means can still possess himself of a vast 
fund of knowledge ; in addition to which, pubhc hbra- 
ries are now so richly furnished, and are conducted on 
such liberal principles, that there is hardly any thing 
useful in science, or elegant in literature, to which the 
youthful student may not have access, — I had almost 
said, without money and without price. And this 
knowledge has, in modern works, been studiously 
adapted to the unlearned ; is in many instances illus- 
trated for the special benefit of the mechanic and the 
laboring man ; and is rendered equally attractive and 
simple, by means of anecdotes, engravings, and maps. 
In addition to all this, the mechanic is invited to lec- 
tures, which, though they may not be sufficient to in- 
struct him fully on any subject, are yet most useful in 
awakening a spirit of inquiry ; in spreading before him 
an outline of the ground over which he ought to travel ; 
and in supplying him with hints, for the direction of his 
route. And all these, be it remembered, are means 
and appliances offered only to the modern inquirer. 
In the days of Franklin and Rittenhouse, and those 
other self-made men to whom I have referred, books 
were scarce ; public lectures unknown ; and public libra- 
ries as barren as they were rare. Is it too much, then, 
to ask of the young men of our day, that, enjoying as 
they do, more of leisure and immeasurably greater fa- 
cilities for improvement, they should at least endeavor 
to emulate such bright examples ? 

But, in the second place, why should the mechanic 
and laborer acquire this knowledge ? Such a question 
may seem strange and superfluous at this day ; and yet 
I fear that even now, and notwithstanding all we hear 



316 APPENDIX. 

of the diffusion of useful knowledge, it is often asked. 
Many persons seem, I had almost said, alarmed, when 
we speak of educating more highly the laboring class- 
es ; and are constantly telling us, in the famous words 
of Pope, that a " little lemming is a dangerous thing,'' 
and that the smattering which we can give our young 
men will only fill them with self-conceit, and make them 
despise their business. To all this, I say, in reply, that 
a little learning is not what we propose to give them ; 
we mean to give them a great deal. Yes, I say it de- 
liberately, a great deal, as measured by any standard, 
known to the author of the celebrated and much abused 
maxim, to which I have just referred. It must be re- 
membered, that, in the time of Pope, the term ^' learn- 
ing,'' included little, if any thing, except a knowledge 
of ancient languages and literature, and an acquaintance 
with history and poetry. What in the true sense con- 
stitutes knowledge, — that knowledge which is emphat- 
ically power, — ^which reveals to a man the constitution 
of the external world, and of his own frame, and of 
civil society, and gives him power with respect to them 
all, that knowledge was, in Pope's time, most of it, un- 
discovered. Where, for example, in those days, was 
chemistry, with all the power which it gives us in 
bleaching, dyeing, tanning, sugar-refining, &c. &c. 
Where was the philosophy of steam, of electricity, and 
galvanism, of the true functions of our muscular and 
nervous organization, of botany and geology, with all 
the control which these give us, over the operations of 
Nature, and the workings of our own system. These 
things have not only been discovered, but they have 
been explained and simplified, till the highest and most 
prolific elements of science are brought down to the 
understanding of a child, and the humblest man may 
now possess himself of knowledge, transcending any 
thing ever dreamed of in the philosophy even of a 
Newton or a Boyle. What we are able to teach the 
practical man may be little as compared with the om- 
niscience of the Deity, or as compared with the science 



IMPORTANCE OF SCIENCE TO THE MECHANIC. 317 

of him who devotes all his hours to study ; but, as com- 
pared with any knowledge, susceptible of direct and 
productive application to the pursuits of a mechanic, 
which was possessed even by Pope himself, or which he 
could have acquired, though he had drunk so deeply 
of the ' Pierian spring,' as to drink it out, we are not 
afraid to say, that what we propose to teach is great. 
But, waiving this point, and admitting that the 
knowledge which can be acquired by these young men 
is in every sense little, we deny that there is any dan- 
ger even in a little learning. On the contrary, we 
maintain that a man is a safer citizen and a more use- 
ful neighbor, knowing something, be that something 
ever so small, than knowing nothing ; and that just as 
you increase his stock of information, provided it be 
innocently employed, you in the same proportion ren- 
der him a better and a happier man. Pope, it is true, 
assures us, that shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, 
meaning, I suppose, in the language of the modern ob- 
jection, that they inspire vanity, and fill the mind with 
a disgust for business. But I imagine, that they, whose 
brains are so constituted, that they would be intoxica- 
ted by shallow draughts, would hardly be sobered again, 
by following the poet's direction, and '' drinking deep- 
ly. ^^ A vain mind will be vain of its learning, whether 
it be much or little, just as it will be vain of any other 
possession. It should be considered, too, that a man's 
acquirements will never inspire vanity, except when 
they serve to elevate him above his associates. If we 
proposed to instruct only a few mechanics, to institute, 
in this respect, a distinction between them, we might, 
perhaps, awaken their pride. But our wish is to place 
all, in this respect, on the same level ; to make knowl- 
edge perfectly universal, to have it considered among 
the necessaries of life ; so that a young man shall no 
more think of growing old without it, than without 
clothes or food, and shall as soon boast, that he has rai- 
ment or a roof to cover him, as that he has that which 
is but the raiment and the shelter of his nobler part. 
27* 



818 APPENDIX. 

And with respect to their business, is it true, that the 
knowledge, which we exhort young mechanics to ac- 
quire, will disqualify them for it, or make it the object 
of their contempt ? The simple purpose of that knowl- 
edge is, to awaken, inform, and invigorate, the mental 
faculties ; and those faculties are the very means by 
which they are to transact business, and do all their or- 
dinary duties. Does walking, in which you use pre- 
cisely the same bones, and tendons, and muscles, as in 
running, disqualify you for running? Or does eating 
food, by which you apply to the several parts of your 
system a healthy stimulus and nourishment, incapaci- 
tate those parts from performing their appropriate func- 
tions? As little, then, will studies, which tend to 
enlighten and strengthen the mind, serve to incapaci- 
tate that mind for the discharge of its accustomed and 
proper vocation. 

While adverting to this objection, however, I cannot 
deny, that an error prevails among young men them- 
selves, which lends it some color. When they first 
conceive the desire for knowledge, they are too ready 
to imagine that their usual pursuits afford no adequate 
opportunity for indulging it; and that, even were it 
otherwise, still there is not to be found, in such pursuits, 
the requisite scope for the application of learning, or 
the exercise of talent. Hence, the disposition, so gen- 
erally evinced by young men who become attached to 
study, to abandon agricultural and mechanical employ- 
ments, and to embrace what are usually termed the 
learned professions. This disposition I would by no 
means condemn, indiscriminately. There are cases, 
doubtless, in which a solemn sense of duty prompts the 
step ; and the Church of Christ, or the bar, or the med- 
ical faculty, gain by it a rich accession of talent and 
zeal. But a mechanic or farmer, no less than other 
men, has occasion for the exercise of the most gifted 
and cultivated powers. He is not merely a mechanic 
who is to supply the wants of his customers, and accu- 
mulate wealth. He is a parent, who is to train up his 



IMPORTANCE OF SCIENCE TO THE MECHANIC. 319 

children to excellence, and who needs, for this task, the 
most varied and thorough knowledge. He is a citi- 
zen, having important civil duties, all of which require 
knowledge, and in the discharge of which, he, of all 
men, may exercise, if he have talent, a commanding 
and most salutary influence. He is, above all, a man, 
having affections, to be chastened and refined ; a taste, 
to be cultivated ; a mental and moral vision, to be en- 
larged ; and a soul, to be fitted, by the exercise of holy 
thought, for honor and immortality. 

And even as mechanics, will not your business af- 
ford you room for applying your knowledge, and exer- 
cising your abilities ? The results, at which you aim, 
in the mechanic arts, are brought about, not by your 
muscular strength so much as by your knowledge and 
skill. The real and effective agents, by which you 
work, are the powers of Nature, her affinities, her at- 
tractions, her all-absorbing energies of heat and gravity. 
Your ofliice is confined to a proper disposition and wise 
control of these powers. And in that high oflSce, ex- 
alted enough, methinks, to satisfy the most aspiring 
mind, how much might science aid you ? Is it not, in 
truth, by her guidance alone, that you can be conduct- 
ed to an adequate acquaintance with the principles and 
processes of your business ? Experience, we are aware 
can teach you much ; and much, too, you can learn from 
the instructions and example of the master-workmen in 
your trade. But still these are not adequate to give 
you that complete, systematic, and thorough, knowl- 
edge, which is essential to your highest success. You 
would scarcely be satisfied with a physician, who 
knew nothing of the human body, but what he had 
learned from the conversation of his master, and by ex- 
perimenting on his patients. You require him to have 
regularly studied the principles of his art ; to have ad- 
ded to his own experience, and that of his immediate 
instructer, that immense mass of experience which is 
treasured up in books. Shall it be deemed unreasona- 
ble, then, that we ask a similar course from you ? In- 



320 APPENDIX. 

deed, does not your interest, no less than consistency, 
demand, that, in connexion with those labors of the 
shop, in which you train your eye to observe, and your 
hand to guide, the processes of your art, you study also 
the principles of that art, — principles which must always 
control such processes, and disregarding which, they 
must inevitably fail. Yes, let it not be forgotten, that 
complete success in the mechanic arts can be secured 
only by knowledge ; and that the knowledge, which is 
alone equal to your wants, is that knowledge which 
combines, with individual experience, the collective and 
generalized experience of all who have labored and ob- 
served in the same sphere. 

How, for example, without that knowledge, can you 
provide for the unexpected emergencies, which await 
every mechanic in the prosecution of his business? 
From the state of your instruments and materials, or 
from the demands of your employers, will arise frequent 
difficulties, which you have never yet experienced ; for 
which no directions can be found in those guides called 
'Assistants,' 'Companions,' &c., and the provision for 
which, therefore, must be found, if found at all, in the 
resources of your own mind. But to what, I ask, will 
his resources amount, who knows nothing of first prin- 
ciples ; who has never been accustomed to reflect on 
the operations in which he is engaged ; and who, if he 
undertakes now, for the first time, to do it, will be al- 
most certain to stumble ? 

Consider, too, that, if ignorant of the natural laws 
which govern your processes, you are not prepared to 
appreciate the inventions and alleged improvements 
which multiply, with such astonishing rapidity, in ev- 
ery branch of manufactures ; and which you are con- 
stantly urged to adopt. Some of them are doubtless 
of great value, while many more are destined no less 
certainly to follow their predecessors, in a brief though 
noisy career, to the land of forgetfulness. Now, who 
can hope to discriminate between the meritorious and 
the worthless, — between the inferior and the superior, — 



IMPORTANCE OF SCIENCE TO THE MECHANIC. 321 

but he who has quahfied himself to look beyond the 
promises of interested projectors, and the certificates 
of incompetent or inconsiderate witnesses, and to test 
the principles involved by the unalterable laws of the 
Creator ? 

Consider, also, that an artisan or manufacturer must 
have a knowledge of the theory and principles of his 
business, if he would himself become its improver and 
benefactor ; if he would be remembered as the honored 
inventor of some cheaper, simpler, or more certain, in- 
strument, or process. That thousands upon thousands 
of such instruments and processes are still undiscovered, 
and that they lie within the reach of every enterprising 
and competent artisan, is certain ; but it is equally cer- 
tain, that he alone is competent to the high task of thus 
adding to the resources of his race, who has knowl- 
edge. Rarely, very rarely, indeed, does the uninstruct- 
ed and unreflecting mechanic compass any great and 
lasting improvement. 

Common sense, as well as the history of the arts, 
would teach us, that, when such men attempt to inno- 
vate, it will generally be in quest of some impracticable 
end, like perpetual motion ; or by means totally inade- 
quate to the object proposed ; or for the mere purpose 
of reinventing, in inferior forms, instruments which are 
already in existence ? And even when they do prose- 
cute an attainable and important end, with skill and 
apparent success, how often are they arrested and de- 
layed, if not defeated, from being unable to solve the 
incidental or collateral questions, which start up in the 
progress of their work. Even Fulton, with all his knowl- 
edge and skill, is said to have been delayed, several 
months, in the completion of his great experiment, for 
want of the requisite knowledge of the theory of resist- 
ing fluids. Whittemore's card-machine, and Perkins's 
nail-engine, were both long delayed, one of them for 
years, and were the source (as we are informed*) of 

* See Judge Story's Discourse before the Mechanics* Institute of 
Boston, 1831. 



322 APPENDIX. 

infinite vexation to their authors, simply from the want 
of an adequate acquaintance with the principles of me- 
chanics. Indeed, I ask, where and when any great in- 
vention was perfected, without the aid of knowledge, 
and of profound thought ? These creations of human 
genius are not struck off, as is generally supposed, at a 
single heat, or at random. They are not the offspring 
of some happy accident, nor the almost inspired guess 
of ignorant, unreflecting minds. No : these may give 
the first hint ; but it is the province of knowledge and 
thought to seize that hint, and carry it out to its results ; 
to disengage it from the mass of surrounding error, and 
to clear away the difficulties and doubts which always 
beset unexplored paths. Who will tell me, that James 
Watt, or Sir Humphrey Davy, or Sir Richard Ark- 
wright, or Reuben Whitney, or Robert Fulton, project- 
ed and invented without knowledge, without science ? 
Who will tell me, that your own Brewster,* unedu- 
cated though he was, ever brought his instruments to 
perfection, without intense and long-continued study ; 
without retiring from the din of business and the dis- 
tractions of society, and burying himself in the solitude 
of his chamber ? Who does not know how glad he was 
to call in the aid of books ; how much he had derived 
from the society and instructions of able friends ; and 
how constantly he was driven, for the want of acquired 
science, to task the powers of his own prolific and orig- 
inal mind ? Who ever heard him depreciate a liberal 
acquaintance with science and literature ; and who does 
not sympathize in the conviction felt, I am told, so deep- 
ly, by his friends and by himself, that he wanted but 
the power, which science would have given him, to 
have added a long and ever-memorable list to those 
inventions, which now stand associated with his cher- 
ished memory ? 

* The late Gilbert Brewster, of Poughkeepsie, a man of equal in- 
genuity and worth ; who, by his invention of the Eclipse Speeder, 
and other improvements in cotton machinery, rendered important 
service to the manufacturing industry of his country. 



IMPORTANCE OF SCIENCE TO THE MECHANIC. 323 

In addition, however, to these practical advantages, 
which would accrue to the artisan, from a knowledge 
of the principles of his art, there are others, of a moral 
and intellectual character, which are entitled to at least 
a passing notice. The habit of studying the theory, 
as well as the practice, of an art, cannot but have the 
happiest influence in enlarging and liberalizing the 
mind. It leads the artisan to regard his occupation as 
something more than mechanical drudgery ; as a liber- 
al and intellectual pursuit, fitted to exercise the powers 
of his mind, and to raise his thoughts from the humble 
workmanship of man to that vaster mechanism, which 
bespeaks the wisdom and power of the Almighty. It 
affords unfailing topics for reflection and conversation, 
during his hours of labor, and provides resources, of an 
intellectual character, on which he can draw, in seasons 
of leisure, and at the advance of old age. It seems, in- 
deed, high time that the years which have hitherto been 
employed by the apprentice, in learning the mere han- 
dicraft of his art, should be employed, in part at least, 
in studying its principles, and in tracing the operation 
of those principles, throughout the works of Nature. 
It is more than time, that a higher moral and intellec- 
tual taste should be cultivated among the artisans of 
every country ; and that hours, now wasted in dissi- 
pation, or frittered away in frivolous reading and con- 
versation, should be devoted to the acquisition of 
knowledge, and the cultivation of virtue. In an age 
like this, when every species of manual labor is render- 
ed more and more precarious by the changes which 
are perpetually taking place in the arts, it is the obvi- 
ous interest of the laboring man to prepare himself, by 
reading and reflection, either to embrace a new employ- 
ment, or to conform himself to sudden and unexpected 
vicissitudes. Independent, however, of interest, there 
are other and higher considerations, which address him 
as an intelligent and immortal being, and which urge 
him to embrace the opportunities of improvement, which 
have been vouchsafed him, by a kind Providence, even 
in his ordinary avocations. 



324 APPENDIX. 

I have thus dwelt, on the benefits to be derived by 
mechanics from hberal and scientific studies. All my 
remarks are but a commentary on the celebrated max- 
im of Lord Bacon, that knowledge is power ; and let 
me add, that, for the human race, there is no other pow- 
er. Inferior animals are guided in their labors by a 
blind but unerring instinct ; and hence, though desti- 
tute of knowledge, they build up works of surpassing 
beauty and utility. But man comes into being, almost 
utterly destitute of instinctive skill. Nearly all his ca- 
pability is the slow growth of effort, of prudence, avail- 
ing itself of past error, of study, exploring the nature 
and properties of the material and immaterial objects 
around him. In books is stored away the fruit of the 
experience and study of those who have gone before 
us ; and it is in that storehouse that you are to gather 
power for the discharge of the high trusts, which have 
been committed to your hands. Left to your own un- 
aided researches, you would learn little of the world on 
which we all enter, strangers ; and you would fall an 
easy prey to its thousand dangers and deceptions. But 
when, with your own observations, you combine the ac- 
cumulated wisdom of ages ; and when this wisdom has 
become your own, by patient reading and reflection, you 
will, indeed, have power. You will have power over 
the refractory substances on which you are called to 
labor, and will cause them to bend to your will with an 
almost magical celerity. You will have power even 
over future events, for you will be prepared to antici- 
pate their nature, to prepare for their approach, and to 
employ them as harmless contributors to your advance- 
ment. You will have power, too, over the minds with 
which you associate, since you will know the motives 
that sway, and the prejudices that pervert, and the high 
aspirations that warm, them ; aspirations, which, though 
now stifled by worldly pursuits, are yet susceptible of 
being roused into vigorous and beneficent exercise. 
And above all, you may, by a proper improvement of 
the means with which you are intrusted, secure that no- 



PROGRESS OF AGRICULTURE. 325 

blest of all power, — power over yourselves. By habits 
of thought and application, you can gain the command 
of your intellectual forces, and can direct them, all dis- 
ciplined and ready for action, to any required point. 
Any may I not hope, that, by the due examination of 
your own hearts, and of the moral relations in which 
you stand, you will, with the aid of God's blessing, be 
animated to the pursuit of that yet higher dominion 
over appetite and passion, which constitutes the perfec- 
tion of our being, and for which there is reserved a 
crown of eternal and unfading brightness. 



V. Page 121. 

PROGRESS OF ENGLISH AND AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. 

Improvement slow. — Considering, says Mr. McCuI- 
loch, the wonderful facilities of communication that exist 
in Great Britain, and the universal diffusion of informa- 
tion, by means of the press, the slowness with which 
agricultural improvements make their way is not a little 
surprising. Mr. Harte mentions, that, when he was a 
youth, he heard Jethro Tull declare, that, though he 
had introduced turnips into the field in King William's 
reign, with little trouble or expense, and great success, 
the practice did not travel beyond the hedges of his 
own estate till after the peace of Utrecht. — (Essays, ii., 
page 223.) It might, one should think, be reasonably 
enough supposed, that improved practices would now be 
much more rapidly diffused ; but experience shows that 
this is not really the case. " What is well known and 
systematically practised, in one county, is frequently un- 
known, or utterly disregarded, in the adjacent districts; 
and what is to every unprejudiced observer evidently 
erroneous, and injurious to the land, is, in some quar- 
ters, persisted in, most pertinaciously, though a journey 
of not many miles would open to the view the beneficial 
28 s. A. 



326 APPENDIX. 

effects of a contrary practice. "=^ In a large portion of 
England there is no regular alternation of corn and 
green crops ; and in many counties, the drill husbandry 
has hardly obtained any footing. 

Notwithstanding, too, that the best-cultivated lands 
in Northumberland, Norfolk, and the Lothians, are all 
ploughed by two horses, nothing is more common, as 
already stated, than to see, in the vicinity of the me- 
tropolis, and throughout most parts of the south and 
west of England, three, four, and still more frequently, 
five, horses, yoked in line to a plough, even where the 
soil is light and sandy ! And, as a driver is always 
necessary when there are more than two horses, at least 
double the labor is expended on ploughing, where this 
barbarous practice is followed, that is required where it 
is abandoned. 

There is a much greater aversion to precipitate 
changes, and a more resolute adherence to whatever 
has been long practised, among farmers, than among 
any other class of persons. '' Improvements, which 
effect material changes in established customs, have, 
under all circumstances and in all countries, ever been 
slowly and reluctantly admitted. It requires no little 
effort to quit the common routine of practice, and still 
more to relinquish long-maintained opinions. 

'' The general circumstances affecting agriculture are, 
moreover, little favorable to great, and, more especially, 
sudden, alterations. The farmer is not so much within 
reach of information, as the merchant and manufac- 
turer ; he has not, like those who reside in towns, the 
means of ready intercourse, and constant communica- 
tion, with others engaged in the same occupation. He 
lives retired ; his acquaintance is limited, and but little 
valued ; and, unless in the habit of reading, he is little 
likely to acquire any other knowledge of his art, than 
what is traditionary, what is transmitted from father to 
son, and limited, in its application, to his own immedi- 
ate neighborhood." 

* Grainger and Kennedy, on Tillage. 



PROGRESS OF AGRICULTURE. 327 

Agriculture, and all sorts of industrious pursuits, were 
kept in a peculiarly backward state, in England, till after 
the accession of Henry the Seventh, A. D. 1485. This 
arose, partly from the destructive contests that grew out 
of the wild efforts of the Norman monarchs to conquer 
France, and the civil wars by which they were succeed- 
ed ; and partly from the abuses produced by the feudal 
system, and the enslaved and depressed state of the cul- 
tivators of the soil. In Henry's reign, the foundations 
were laid of an order of things more favorable to the 
growth of opulence, and the progress of improvement. 

Turnips, clover, and potatoes, were all introduced 
into England in the seventeenth century. 

Blythe's ^Improver Improved,' pubhshed in 1649, is 
the first systematic work, in which there are any traces 
of the alternate system of husbandry, or of the intro- 
duction of clover, turnips, &c., between culmiferous 
crops. The practice did not, however, make much pro- 
gress during the seventeenth century ; and though it 
forms, as it were, the very foundation of good farming, 
there are extensive districts in which it is still very im- 
perfectly understood, and but little followed. 

The famous Jethro Tull was the first, or among the 
first, who introduced the drill husbandry ; and his work 
on horse-hoeing husbandry, published in 1731, did a 
vast deal to recommend the practice ; though, from his 
undervaluing the influence of manure, it was, in other 
respects, prejudicial. 

Stock husbandry has been more improved, since 
1750, than tillage husbandry. As soon as Bakewell's 
system of breeding began to be known, it was taken up 
and followed by spirited and judicious farmers, in all 
parts of the country. Of these, Mr. Culley, of North- 
umberland, was one of the most conspicuous. He pub- 
lished his ' Observations on Live Stock' in 1786 ; and 
in it, the just principles for improving the breeds of do- 
mestic animals were, for the first time, fully elucidated^ 
This has had a wonderful influence in increasing the 
supply of butchers' meat. Indeed, the principal im- 



328 APPENDIX. 

provement in arable husbandry, — the general introduc- 
tion and superior management of green crops, — may 
be, in no inconsiderable degree, ascribed to the anxiety 
of farmers to procure an abundant and suitable supply 
of food for their stock. The superior attention paid to 
stock farming may probably be, to some extent, at least, 
accounted for, from the circumstance of tithe pressing 
with comparative lightness on pasture land, while it falls 
with its full weight on arable land, and operates power- 
fully to prevent the outlay of capital upon it. But, how- 
ever it may be accounted for, there can be no doubt of 
the fact, that stock husbandry is now more advanced 
than tillage husbandry ; and that, in all that belongs to 
the breeding and rearing of cattle, horses, sheep, and 
pigs, the English are, at present, superior to the Scotch, 
and to every other people. 

But, though surpassed by its kindred branch, the 
progress of arable husbandry in England, since 1760, 
and of the improvements connected therewith, has, not- 
withstanding, been great. 

Of the recent improvements, one of the most important 
has been the introduction of bone-dust as a manure. In 
many places, but particularly in Lincolnshire, this has 
occasioned a vast increase of produce ; and has enabled 
many extensive tracts to be brought into a high state 
of cultivation. There has been, in fact, almost every 
where, throughout the country, but especially in the 
northern counties, a progressive improvement in agri- 
culture, effected, partly by the better drainage of the 
land, partly by the adoption of better rotations, partly 
by the enforcement of greater economy in the manage- 
ment of the details, and partly by other causes. No 
doubt, there is still, in many counties, very great room 
for further improvements ; but there has been, even in 
the most backward, considerable advances made since 
the peace. 

In proof of the extraordinary change that has taken 
place, we may mention, that, in the wolds of Lincoln- 
shire, the crops of turnips are said to have become from 



PROGRESS OF AGRICULTURE. 329 

five to ten times heavier, within the last few years, from 
the apphcation of bone manure to their culture ; at the 
same time that there has been a proportional increase 
in the productiveness of the crops ! Similar improve- 
ments, and, in some instances, quite as great, have been 
made in other parts of the country. It is gratifying, 
too, to know, that the capacities of improvement are 
far from being any where exhausted. But what has 
been effected shows what might be done, were the pro- 
ductive energies of the more backward districts better 
developed by the extension of the improved practices 
of Norfolk, Northumberland, Lincoln, &c., to other 
counties. The granting of leases of a reasonable length, 
and containing proper conditions as to management, 
and the abolition or commutation of tithes for a fixed, 
invariable payment, would be the most likely means to 
bring about so desirable a result. It is impossible, in- 
deed, to say to what extent, under such circumstances, 
improvement might be carried. See McCullocK's Sta- 
tistics of Great Britain. 

The following account of the present state of agricul- 
ture in England was recently given by the Hon. Daniel 
Webster, in a speech delivered at a public meeting in 
Boston, Massachusetts. 

Mr. Webster began with stating, that he regarded 
agriculture as the leading interest of society ; and as 
having, in all its relations, a direct and intimate bearing 
upon human comfort and the national prosperity. 

The primary elements, which enter into the consid- 
eration of the agriculture of a country, are four ; cli- 
mate, soil, price of land, and price of labor. 

The climate of England differs essentially from that 
of this country. England is on the western side of the 
eastern, and we on the eastern side of the western, con- 
tinent. The climate of each country is materially af- 
fected by its respective situation in relation to the ocean. 
The winds which prevail most, both in this country and 
in England, are from the west ; it is known that the 
wind blows, in our latitudes, from some point west to 
28* 



330 APPENDIX. 

some point east, on an average of years, nearly or quite 
three days out of four. These facts are familiar. The 
consequences resulting from them are, that our Winters 
are colder and our Summers much hotter, than in Eng- 
land. Our latitude is about that of Oporto, yet the 
temperature is very different. On these accounts, there- 
fore, the maturing of the crops in England, and the pow- 
er of using these crops, creates a material difference be- 
tween its agriculture and ours. It may be supposed, 
that our climate must resemble that of China, in the 
same latitudes; and this fact may have an essential 
bearing upon that branch of agriculture which it is pro- 
posed to introduce among us, — the production of silk. 

The second point of difference, between the two 
countries, lies in the soil. The soil of England is main- 
ly argillaceous ; a soft and unctuous loam upon a sub- 
stratum of clay. This may be considered as the pre- 
dominant characteristic, in the parts which he visited. 
The soil in some of the southern counties of England is 
thinner ; some of it is what we should call stony ; much 
of it is a free gravelly soil, with some small part which, 
with us, would be called sandy. Through a great ex- 
tent of country, this soil rests on a deep bed of chalk. 
Ours is a granite soil. There is granite in Great Brit- 
ain ; but this species of soil prevails in Scotland, a part 
of the country which more resembles our own. We 
may have lands as good as any in England. Our allu- 
vial soils on Connecticut river, and in some other parts 
of the country, are equal to any lands ; but these have 
not, ordinarily, a wide extent of clay subsoil. The soil 
of Massachusetts is harder, more granitic, less abound- 
ing in clay, and altogether more stony, than the soil of 
England. The surface of Massachusetts is more une- 
ven, more broken with mountain ridges, more diversi- 
fied with hill and dale, and more abundant in streams 
of water, than that of England. 

The price of land in that country, another important 
element in agricultural calculations, differs greatly from 
the price of land with us. It is three times as high as 
in Massachusetts; at least. 



PROGRESS OF AGRICULTURE. 33l 

On the other hand, the price of agricultural labor 
is much higher in Massachusetts, than in England. In 
different parts of England, the price of labor is consid- 
erably various ; but it may be set down as twice as 
dear with us here. 

These are the general remarks, which have suggest- 
ed themselves in regard to the state of things abroad. 
Now, have we any thing to learn from them ? Is there 
any thing in the condition of England, applicable to 
ours ; or, in regard to which, the agriculture of Eng- 
land may be of use to Massachusetts and other coun- 
tries ? 

The subject of agriculture in England has strongly 
attracted the attention and inquiries of men of science. 
They have studied particularly the nature of the soil. 
More than twenty years ago. Sir Humphrey Davy un- 
dertook to treat the subject of the application of chemi- 
cal knowledge to agriculture, in the analysis of soils and 
manures. The same attention has been continued to 
the subject ; and the extraordinary discoveries and ad- 
vances in chemical science, since his time, are likely to 
operate greatly to the advantage of agriculture. The 
best results may be expected from them. These inqui- 
ries are now prosecuted in France, with great enthusiasm 
and success. We may hope for like beneficial results 
here, from the application of science to the same objects. 

But, although the circumstances of climate and sit- 
uation and nature of the soil form permanent distinc- 
tions, which cannot be changed, yet there are other dif- 
ferences, resulting from different modes of culture, and 
different forms of applying labor ; and it is to these 
differences that our attention should be particularly 
directed. Here, there is much to learn. Enghsh cul- 
tivation is more scientific, more systematic, and more 
exact, a great deal, than ours. This is partly the result 
of necessity. A vast population is to be supported, on 
comparatively a small surface. Lands are dear, rents 
are high, and hands, as well as mouths, are numerous. 
Careful and skilful cultivation is the natural result of 



332 APPENDIX. 

this state of things. An Enghsh farmer looks not mere- 
ly to the present year's crop. He considers what will 
be the condition of the land, when that crop is off; 
and what it will be fit for, the next year. He studies 
to use his land, so as not to abuse it. On the contrary, 
his aim is to get crop after crop, and still the land shall 
be growing better and better. If he would content him- 
self with raising from the soil a large crop this year, 
and then leaving it neglected and exhausted, he would 
starve. It is upon this fundamental idea, of constant 
production without exhaustion, that the system of Eng- 
lish cultivation, and indeed of all good cultivation, is 
founded. England is not original in this. Flanders, 
and perhaps Italy, have been her teachers. This sys- 
tem is carried out in practice, by a well-considered ro- 
tation of crops. The form, or manner, of this rotation, 
in a given case, is determined very much by the value 
of the soil, and partly by the local demand for particu- 
lar products. But some rotation, some succession, some 
variation in the annual productions of the same land, 
is essential. No tenant could obtain a lease, or, if he 
should, could pay his rent and maintain his family, who 
should wholly disregard this. White crops are not to 
follow one another. White crops are wheat, barley, 
rye, oats, &c. Our maize, or Indian corn, must be 
considered a white crop ; although, from the quantity 
of stalk and leaf which it produces, and which are such 
excellent food for cattle, it is less exhausting than some 
other white crops ; or, to speak more properly, it makes 
greater returns to the land. Green crops are turnips, 
potatoes, beets, vetches, or tares, (which are usually 
eaten while growing, by cattle and sheep, or cut for 
green food,) and clover. Buck or beech wheat, and 
winter oats, thought to be a very useful product, are 
regarded also as green crops, when eaten on the land ; 
and so, indeed, may any crop be considered, which is 
used in this way. But the turnip is the great green 
crop of England. Its cultivation has wrought such 
changes, in fifty years, that it may be said to have rev- 
olutionized EngUsh agriculture. 



PROGRESS OF AGRICULTURE. 333 

Before that time, when lands became exhausted, by 
the repetition of grain crops, they were left, as it was 
termed, fallow ; that is, were not cultivated at all, but 
abandoned, to recruit themselves as they might. This 
occurred as often as every fourth year, so that one 
quarter of the arable land was always out of cultivation, 
and yielded nothing. Turnips are now substituted in 
the place of these naked fallows ; and now, land in tur- 
nips is considered as fallow. What is the philosophy 
of this ? The raising of crops, even of any, the most 
favorable crop, does not in itself enrich, but, in some 
degree, exhausts the land. The exhaustion of the land, 
however, as experience and observation have fully de- 
monstrated, takes place mainly when the seeds of a 
plant are allowed to perfect themselves. The turnip is 
a biennial plant. It does not perfect its seed before it is 
consumed. There is another circumstance, in respect 
to the turnip plant, which deserves consideration. 

Plants, it is well understood, derive a large portion 
of their nutriment from the air. The leaves of plants 
are their lungs. The leaves of turnips expose a wide 
surface to the atmosphere, and derive, therefore, much 
of their subsistence and nutriment from these sources. 
The broad leaves of the turnips likewise shade the 
ground, preserve its moisture, and prevent, in some 
measure, its exhaustion by the sun and air. 

The turnips have a further and ultimate use. Meat 
and clothing come from animals. The more animals 
are sustained upon a farm, the more meat and the more 
clothing. These things bear, of course, a proportion to 
the number of bullocks, sheep, swine, and poultry, 
which are maintained. The great inquiry, then, is, 
what kind of crops will least exhaust the land in their 
cultivation, and furnish, at the same time, support to the 
greatest number of animals ? 

A very large amount of land, in England, is culti- 
vated in turnips. Fields of turnips of three, four, and 
even five, hundred acres, are sometimes seen, though 
the common fields are much less ; and it may be ob- 



334 APPENDIX. 

served, here, that in the richest and best-cultivated parts 
of England, enclosures of ten, fifteen, twenty, or thirty, 
acres, seemed more common. Since the introduction 
of the turnip culture, bullocks and sheep have trebled 
in number. Turnips, for the reasons given, are not 
great exhausters of the soil ; and they furnish abundant 
food for animals. Let us suppose, that one bushel of 
oats or barley may be raised at the same cost as ten 
bushels of turnips, and w^ill go as far in support of 
stock. The great difference in the tw^o crops is to be 
found in the farmer's barn-yard. Here is the test of 
their comparative value. This is the secret of the great 
advantages vs^hich follow from their cultivation. The 
value of manure, in agriculture, is well appreciated. 
McQueen states the extraordinary fact, that the value 
of the animal manure, annually applied to the crops in 
England, at current prices, surpasses in value the w^hole 
amount of its foreign commerce. There is no doubt 
that it greatly exceeds it. The turnip crop returns a 
vast amount of nutritive matter to the soil. The farm- 
er, then, from his green crops, and by a regular system 
of rotation, finds green feed for his cattle and wheat for 
the market. 

Among the lighter English soils, is that of the 
county of Norfolk ; a county, however, which he had 
not the pleasure to visit. Its soil, he understood, is 
light, a little inclined to sand, or light loam. Such 
soils are not unfavorable to roots. Here is the place 
of the remarkable cultivation and distinguished im- 
provements of that eminent cultivator, Mr. Coke, now 
Earl of Leicester.^ In these lands, he understood, a 
common rotation is turnips, barley, clover, wheat. These 
lands resemble much of the land in our county of Ply- 
mouth ; and the sandy lands to be found in the vicinity 
of the Connecticut and Merrimack rivers. The culti- 
vation of green crops in New England deserves atten- 
tion. There is no incapacity in our soil ; and there 

* He has increased the rental of his farms, by his improvements, 
from twenty-five to two hundred thousand dollars a year. 



PROGRESS OF AGRICULTURE. 335 

are no circumstances unfavorable to their production. 
What would be the best kind of succulent vegetables 
to be cultivated, whether turnips or carrots, he was not 
prepared to say. But no attempts, within his knowl- 
edge, have been made among us of a systematic agricul- 
ture ; and until we enter upon some regular rotation of 
crops, and our husbandry becomes more systematic, no 
distinguished success can be looked for. As to our 
soil, as had been remarked, there is no inherent inca- 
pacity for the production of any of the common crops. 
We could raise wheat in Massachusetts. The average 
crop in England is twenty-six bushels to the acre. From 
his own farm, and it was comparatively a thin and poor 
soil, he had obtained, this Summer, seventy-six bushels 
of wheat upon three acres of land. It is not, therefore, 
any want of capability in the soil ; but the improvement 
and success of our husbandry must depend upon a suc- 
cession of crops adapted to the circumstances of our soil,, 
climate, and peculiar condition. 

In England, a large portion of the turnip crop is con- 
sumed on the land where it grows. The sheep are fed 
out of doors all Winter ; and he saw many large flocks, 
thousands and miUions of sheep, which were never 
housed. This was matter of surprise, especially con- 
sidering the wetness of the climate ; and these sheep 
were often exposed in fields where a dry spot could not 
be found for them to lie down upon. Sheep were often 
folded in England by wattled fences, or hurdles, tempo- 
rarily erected in different parts of the field, and remov- 
ed from place to place, as the portions of the crop were 
consumed. In some cases, they were folded, and the 
turnips dug and carried to them. In such case, they 
were always fed upon lands which were intended the 
next year to be, as far as practicable, brought under 
cultivation. He had seen many laborers in fields, em- 
ployed in drawing the turnips, splitting them, and scat- 
tering them over the land, for the use of the sheep, 
which was considered better, often, than to leave the 
sheep to dig for themselves. These laborers would be 



336 APPENDIX. 

SO employed all Winter ; and if the ground should be- 
come frozen, the turnips are taken up with a bar. To- 
gether with the turnips, it is thought important that 
the sheep should have a small quantity of other food. 
Chopped hay, sometimes a little oil cake, or oats, is 
given. This is called trough food, as it is eaten in 
troughs, standing about in the field. In so moist a 
climate as that of England, some land is so wet, that, 
in the farmer's phrase, it will not cairy sheep ; that is, 
it is quite too wet for sheep to lie out upon it. In such 
cases, the turnips must be carried^ that is, removed from 
the field, and fed out elsewhere. The last season was 
uncommonly wet, and for that reason, perhaps, he could 
not so well judge ; but it appeared to him, it would be 
an improvement in English husbandry to furnish for 
sheep, oftener than is done, not only a tolerably dry 
ground to lie on, but some sort of shelter against the 
cold rains of Winter. The turnips, doubtless, are more 
completely consumed when dug, split, and fed out. 
The Swedish turnip, he had little doubt, was best suit- 
ed to cold climates. It was scarcely injured by being 
frozen in the ground in the Winter, as it would thaw 
again, and be still good in Spring. In Scotland, in the 
Lothians, where cultivation is equal to that in any part 
of England, it is more the practice, than further south, 
to house turnips, or draw them, and cover them from 
frost. 

One of the things which now attracted much atten- 
tion among the agriculturists in England, was the sub- 
ject of tile draining. This most efficient and successful 
mode of draining is getting into very extensive use. 
Much of the soil of England, as he had already stated, 
rested on a clayey and retentive subsoil. Excessive wet- 
ness is prejudicial and destructive to the crops. Mar- 
ginal drains, or drains on the outside of the fields, do 
not produce the desired results. These tile drains have 
effected most important improvements. The tile itself 
is made of clay, baked like bricks, about one foot in 
length, four inches in width, three fourths of an inch in 



PROGRESS OF AGRICULTURE. 337 

thickness, and stands from six to eight inches in height, 
being hemispherical, or Uke the half of a cylinder, with 
its sides elongated. It resembles the Dutch tiles some- 
times seen on the roofs of the old houses in Albany and 
New York. A ditch is sunk eighteen or twenty inches 
in depth, and these drains are multiplied over a field, 
sometimes at a distance of only seven yards apart. The 
ditch, or drain, being dug, these tiles are laid down, 
with the hollow side at bottom, on the smooth clay, or 
any other firm subsoil, the sides placed near to each 
other, some little straw thrown over the joints to pre- 
vent the admission of dirt, and the whole covered up. 
This is not so expensive a mode of draining as might be 
supposed. The ditch, or drain, need only be narrow, 
and tiles are of much cheaper transportation than stone 
would be. But the result is so important, as well to 
justify the expense. .It is estimated, that this thor- 
ough draining adds often twenty per cent, to the pro- 
duction of the wheat crop. A beautiful example came 
under his observation in Nottinghamshire, not long 
before he left England. A gentleman was showing 
him his grounds for next year's crop of wheat. On 
one side of the lane, where the land had been drained, 
the wheat was already up, and growing luxuriantly ; on 
the other, where the land was subject to no other dis- 
advantage than that it had not been drained, it was 
still too wet to be sowed at all. It may be thought 
singular enough, but it was doubtless true, that on stiff, 
clayey lands, thorough draining is as useful in dry, hot 
Summers, as in cold and wet Summers ; for such land, 
if a wet Winter or Spring be suddenly followed by 
hot and dry weather, is apt to become hard and baked, 
so that the roots of plants cannot enter it. Thorough 
draining, by giving an opportunity to the water on the 
surface to be constantly escaping, corrects this evil. 
Draining can never be needed to so great an extent in 
Massachusetts, as in England and Scotland, from the 
different nature of the soil ; but we have yet quantities 
of low meadow lands, producing wild, harsh, sour grass- 
29 s. A. 



338 APPENDIX. 

es, or producing nothing, which, there is little doubt, 
might be rendered most profitable hay fields, by being 
well drained. When we understand better the impor- 
tance of concentrating labor, instead of scattering it ; 
when we shall come to estimate, duly, the superior 
profit of ' a little farm, well tilled,' over a great farm, 
half cultivated and half manured, overrun with weeds, 
and scourged with exhausting crops, we shall then fill 
our barns, and double the Winter feed for our cattle and 
sheep, by the products of these waste meadows. 

There is in England another mode of improvement, 
most important, instances of which he had seen, and 
one which he regarded as the most beautiful agri- 
cultural improvement which had ever come within his 
observation. He meant irrigation, or the making of 
what is called water meadows. He had first seen them 
in Wiltshire, and was much struck with them, not hav- 
ing before understood, from reading or conversation, 
exactly what they were. But he had afterwards an 
opportunity of examining a most signal and successful 
example of this mode of improvement on the estates of 
the Duke of Portland, in the north of England, on the 
borders of Sherwood forest. Indeed, it was part of the 
old forest. Sherwood forest, at least in its present 
state, is not like the pine forests of Maine, the heavy 
hard-wood forests of the unredeemed lands of New 
Hampshire and Vermont, or the still heavier timbered 
lands of the West. It embraces a large extent of coun- 
try, with various soils, some of them thin and light, 
with beautiful and venerable oaks, of unknown age, 
much open ground between them and underneath their 
wide-spread branches, and this covered with heather, 
lichens, and fern. As a scene to the eye, and to the 
memory by its long existence and its associations, it is 
beautiful and interesting. But in many parts the soil 
is far enough from being rich. Upon the borders of 
this forest are the water meadows of which he was 
speaking. A little river ran through the forest in this 
part, at the bottom of a valley, with sides moderately 



PROGRESS OF AGRICULTURE. 339 

sloping, and of considerable extent, between the river 
at the bottom and the common level of the surrounding 
country above. This little river, before reaching the 
place, ran through a small town, and gathered, doubt- 
less, some refuse matter in its course. From this river 
the water was taken, at the upper end of the valley, 
conducted along the edge, or bank, in a canal or car- 
rier, and from this carrier, at proper times, suffered to 
flow out, very gently, spreading over and irrigating the 
whole surface, trickling and shining, when he saw it, 
(and it was then November,) among the light green of 
the new-springing grass, and collected below in another 
canal, from which it was again let out, to flow in like 
manner over land lying still further down towards the 
bottom of the valley. Ten years ago, this land, for 
production, was worth little or nothing. He was told 
that some of it had been let for no more than a shilling 
an acre. It has not been manured, and yet is now most 
extensively productive. It is not flooded ; the water 
does not stand upon it ; it flows gently over it, and is 
applied several times in a year, to each part, — say in 
March, May, July, and October. In November, when 
he saw it, the farmers were taking off the third crop of 
hay cut this season, and that crop was certainly not less 
than two tons to the acre. This last crop was mostly 
used as green food for cattle. When he spoke of the 
quantity of tons, he meant tons of dried hay. After this 
crop was off, sheep were to be put on it, to have lambs 
at Christmas, so as to come into market in March, a 
time of year when they command a high price. Up- 
on taking off the sheep in March, the land would be 
watered, the process of watering lasting two or three 
days, or perhaps eight or ten days, according to cir- 
cumstances, and repeated after the taking off of each 
successive crop. Although this water has, no doubt, 
considerable sediment in it, yet the general fact shows 
how important water is to the growth of plants, and how 
far even it may supply the place of other sources of sus- 
tenance. Now, we in Massachusetts have a more un- 



340 APPENDIX. 

even surface, more valleys with sloping sides, by many 
times more streams, and such a climate that our farms 
suffer much oftener from drought than farms in Eng- 
land. May we not learn something useful, therefore, 
from the examples of irrigation in that country ? 

With respect to implements of husbandry, Mr. Web- 
ster was of opinion that the English, on the whole, 
had no advantage over us. Their wagons and carts 
were no better ; their ploughs, he thought, were not 
better any where, and in some counties far inferior, be- 
cause unnecessarily heavy. The subsoil plough, for 
which we have little use, was esteemed a useful inven- 
tion ; and the mole plough, which he had seen in opera- 
tion, and the use of which was to make an under-ground 
drain, without disturbing the surface, was an ingenious 
contrivance, likely to be useful in clay soils, free from 
stone and gravel, but which could be little used in Mas- 
sachusetts. In general, he thought the Enghsh utensils 
of husbandry were unnecessarily cumbrous and heavy. 
The ploughs, especially, required a great strength of 
draught. But as drill-husbandry was extensively prac- 
tised in England, and very little with us, the various 
implements, or machines, for drill-sowing, in that coun- 
try, quite surpass all we have. He did not remember 
to have seen the horse-rake used in England, although 
he had seen in operation implements for spreading hay, 
from the swarth, to dry, or rather, perhaps, for turning 
it, drawn by horses. 

The raising of sheep, in England, is an immense in- 
terest. England probably clips fifty millions of fleeces 
this year, lambs under a year old not being shorn. The 
average yield may be six or seven pounds to a fleece. 
There are two principal classes of sheep in England, 
the long-wooled and the short-wooled. Among these 
are many varieties, but this is the general division, or 
classification. The Leicester and the South Down be- 
long respectively to these several famihes. The com- 
mon clip of the former may be estimated from seven to 
eight pounds ; and of the latter, from three to three and 



341 

a half or four. Mr. Webster mentioned these particulars 
only as estimates ; and much more accurate information 
might doubtless be obtained from many writers. 

The Leicester sheep were like the short-horned cat- 
tle. They must be kept well ; they should always be 
fat ; and, pressed by good keeping to early maturity, 
they are found very profitable. ' Feed well' was the 
maxim of the great Roman farmer, Cato ; and that short 
sentence comprises much of all that belongs to the prof- 
itable economy of live stock. The South Downs are a 
good breed, both for wool and mutton. They crop the 
grass that grows on the thin soils, over beds of chalk, 
in Wiltshire, Hampshire, and Dorsetshire. They ought 
not to scorn the pastures of New England. 

When one looks, said Mr. Webster, to the condi- 
tion of England, he must see of what immense impor- 
tance is every, even the smallest, degree of improvement 
in its agricultural productions. Suppose, that by some 
new discovery, or some improved mode of culture, only 
one per cent, could be added to the annual results of 
Enghsh cultivation ; this, of itself, would materially af- 
fect the comfortable subsistence of millions of human 
beings. It was often said that England was a garden. 
This was a strong metaphor. There was poor land, 
and some poor cultivation, in England. All people 
are not equally industrious, careful, and skilful. But, 
on the whole, England was a prodigy of agricultural 
wealth. 

AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. 

The system of husbandry prevailing in our country 
is much inferior to that in England and Scotland. The 
produce of virgin soils at the West is not only no proper 
measure of the character of our culture, but it has doubt- 
less contributed to keep it in a depressed state. Instead 
of having recourse to better tillage, and a more enlight- 
ened plan of cropping, the farmer who finds his profits 
declining abandons his farm, and establishes himself in 
a new country. In this way our soils, in the eastern 
29# 



342 APPENDIX. 

part of the Union, have been gradually deteriorating, 
while those of England and Scotland have been improv- 
ing. The same process is now going on in the Western 
States ; and, unless the work of exhausting the soil is 
arrested, successive emigrations must take place, till our 
farming population reach the shores of the Pacific. The 
average produce of an acre of land in the eastern coun- 
ties of New York, or in Massachusetts, is about one 
third less than it is in England. In many parts of Scot- 
land, a country, which, forty years since, was little more 
than unbroken heath, the average annual produce is 
greater than in England. These countries owe their 
superiority in this respect, therefore, not to any natural 
advantages of soil or climate, but to a larger outlay of 
capital in manuring and draining, and to a more judi- 
cious system of rotation in crops. The proprietors of 
land, too, have not been infected with so great a dread 
of " book-farming," as has prevailed with us. 

The history of the last few years, however, is full of 
encouragement. The old plan of fallowing is nearly 
abandoned. Our farmers are beginning to discover 
the value of manure. Fifteen years since, nothing was 
more common, in Winter, than to see farmers who re- 
sided on the Mohawk drawing the manure which had 
been accumulating, perhaps for years, and emptying it, 
through holes in the ice, into the river. It is now pre- 
served, and applied to the fields. The use of plaster, 
too, has done much to ameliorate the soil, and some 
progress has been made (though much too Uttle) to- 
wards a proper system of rotation and root culture. 
Wherever the spirit of improvement has been active, 
the results have been astonishing. The annual produce 
of Dutchess county, on the Hudson, has doubled, per- 
haps trebled, within twenty years. The price of land 
has advanced in a still greater ratio. Instances are ad- 
duced from various parts of the country, all showing 
that nothing is wanting but good husbandry, to make 
any of our soils fertile and profitable. For more detail- 
ed remarks on this important subject, I would refer to 



IMPROVEMENT IN FOOD, CLOTHING, ETC. 343 

^The Farmer's Companion,' by the late Judge Buel, 
which constitutes the sixteenth volume of ' The School 
Library.' Of this work Professor Dean, in his Sketch 
of the Life of Judge Buel, thus speaks : This is '' the 
last and most perfect of his works, containing, within a 
small compass, the embodied results of his agricultural 
experience, — a rich legacy, to which the great extent 
of our farming interest cannot remain insensible." ^' I 
deem it really the most fortunate circumstance in his 
life, that he should have been permitted, so immediate- 
ly previous to his departure, to furnish just this volume, 
for just this purpose ; and I shall confidently expect, 
that the coming generation will be better farmers, better 
citizens, and better men, from having had the formation 
of their young minds influenced, to some extent, by the 
lessons of experience and practical wisdom derived from 
the last, best, most mature, production of this excellent 



VL Pages 188 and 248. 

IMPROVEMENT IN FOOD, CLOTHING, AND LODGING. 

There is no better way of testing the real influence 
of improvements in the arts and sciences, than by con- 
sidering how they have affected the great bulk of the 
people. While all classes have been vastly benefited, 
there can be no doubt, that they who labor with their 
hands have been the greatest gainers. These improve- 
ments have enabled multitudes of them to employ their 
talents in the most productive manner, and in that way, 
to advance themselves to the highest stations of wealth 
and influence. In this country, it is proverbial, that the 
rich and distinguished of the present generation are 
descended from those, who, two generations since, were 
poor, and without a name. It is not so generally known, 
that, to a great extent, the same fact may be alleged 
of Great Britain. " I believe," says Mr. Rickards, " it 



344 APPENDIX. 

may be safely added, that every one of the great for- 
tunes and hnmense estabUshments, existmg in the man- 
ufacturing districts, may be traced to the minute savings 
of common operatives, who, from the smallest of small 
beginnings, have, by prudence, skill, and unremitting i 
perseverance and industry, raised themselves, with un- 
exampled rapidity, to a pinnacle of wealth and impor- 
tance, which, but for its existence, could scarcely be 
believed. This, then, is a state of society, with its in- 
stitutions, essentially popular in its origin." 

It is our object, however, in this place, to show what 
the mass of the people have gained, in respect to phys- 
ical comfort. For this purpose we shall compare their 
past condition with their present, in respect to food, 
clothing, and lodging ; making the comparison in re- 
gard to England, Scotland, and the United States. 

I. England. 
1 . In the Reign of Elizabeth. 

[A. D. 1568—1603.] '' The bread, throughout the 
land," says Harrison, who wrote in the reign of Eliz- 
abeth, " is made of such graine, as the soil yielded ; 
neverthelesse, the gentilitie commonlie provide them- 
selves sufficientlie of wheat for their owne tables, whilest 
their household and poore neighbours, in some shires, 
are inforced to content themselves with rie or barleie ; 
yea, and in time of dearth, manie with bread made 
either of bran, peason, or otes, or of all together, and 
some acorns among ; of which scourge the poorest doe 
soonest tast, sith they are least able to provide them- 
selves of better. I will not saie that this extremitie is 
oft so well to be scene in time of plentie, as of dearth ; 
but, if I should, I coulde easilie bring my triall." — De- 
scription of England. 

Sir F. M. Eden, whose elaborate researches have 
thrown much light on this subject, truly states, that the 
substantiality of diet, for which the sixteenth century 
is renowned, was confined chiefly to the tables of per- 



IMPROVEMENT IN FOOD, CLOTHING, ETC. 345 

sons of rank. '' A maid of honor, perhaps, breakfasted 
on roast beef; but the ploughman, in these good old 
times, as they are called, could, I fear, only banquet on 
the strength of water gruel." — State of the Poor. 

" It was not," says Hume, '' till the end of the reign 
of Henry the Eighth, that any salads, carrots, turnips, 
or other edible roots, were produced in England; the 
little of these vegetables that was used, was imported 
from Holland and Flanders. Queen Catharine, when 
she wanted a salad, was obliged to despatch a mes- 
senger thither, on purpose." 

With the exception of the potato, most of these veg- 
etables seem to have been introduced into England 
from the south of Europe. The artichoke, which is 
perhaps the oldest, came from the Levant, by way of 
Italy, and was introduced into England in the reign of 
Henry the Eighth. Asparagus and celery came from 
Italy, through France, and were introduced about the 
close of the sixteenth century. The cauliflower was 
brought from Italy, where it was obtained from the isl- 
and of Cyprus, and was imported into England about 
the close of the seventeenth century. The beet and 
radish came at a later period, from France. (See 
Beckmann,) 

'^ Many esculent plants," says Wade, in his ' History 
of the Middle and Working Classes,' " which are now 
cultivated in the fields, and, in a scarcity of corn, are 
found to be admirable substitutes even for bread, were 
in the beginning of the sixteenth century either little 
known, or exclusively confined to the tables of the 
rich. Potatoes, at present, are a general article of 
diet ; in King James's reign, they were considered as 
a great delicacy. They are noticed among the articles 
provided for, the Queen's household; the quantity, how- 
ever, is small, and the price two shilUngs the pound. In 
1619, two cauliflowers cost two shillings, and sixteen 
artichokes, three shillings and four pence, — prices which 
sufficiently prove their rarity. Tea and sugar, which 
now form regular articles of cottage economy, were still 



346 APPENDIX. 

greater rarities. The former article was not imported, 
in any considerable quantities, till after the establish- 
ment of a new East-India Company, with liberty to 
trade to China and Japan, in 1637. No notice is tak- 
en of tea, in the book of rates, annexed to the act, 
passed in 1660, for granting Charles the Second a sub- 
sidy of tonnage and poundage upon all merchandise 
exported and imported ; but in a subsequent act, pass- 
ed in the same session, tea, coffee, and chocolate, are 
subjected to the excise. It is singular, however, that 
the duty was imposed on the liquor prepared from these 
articles, in lieu of the articles themselves ; from which 
it may be inferred, that none of these beverages were 
made by private famihes, but they were purchased, ready 
prepared, from the compounders. 

'^ The high price of butchers' meat, in the reign of 
James the First, (the necessary consequence of agri- 
cultural improvement,) is a strong proof that flesh meat 
constituted an inconsiderable portion of the diet of la- 
borers, at the beginning of the seventeenth century. 
About this period, beef was three pence and three 
farthings, and mutton three pence and three eighths of 
a penny, the pound. At this time, the wages allowed 
by justices in a midland county, to laborers in husban- 
dry, were from six pence to ten pence the day, without 
meat, and to women haymakers, four pence the day, 
without meat. In these ratings, the magistrates calcu- 
lated that half the day's earnings were equivalent to 
diet for one day, which is a much less proportion than 
would be requisite at present. The price of corn was 
rather higher than in the middle of the following cen- 
tury. The average price of middling wheat, from 1606 
to 1625, was one pound fourteen shillings and one 
penny, the quarter ; whereas the average price, for the 
twenty years ending in 1745, was one pound nine shil- 
lings and ten pence. 

" In regard to clothing, Moryson, who lived in this 
reign, and travelled extensively over Europe, speaking, 
in his ' Itinerary,' of England, tells us, ' Husbandmen 



IMPROVEMENT IN FOOD, CLOTHING, ETC. 347 

weare garments of course cloth, made at home, and 
their wives weare gownes of the same cloth, kirtles of 
some light stufFe, with linnen aprons, and cover their 
heads with a linnen coyfe and a felt hat, and in gener- 
al their hnnen is course, and made at home.' " 

Dr. Howell, as quoted by Hume, states that Queen 
Ehzabeth herself never wore any other than cloth hose, 
until the third year of her reign, when she was present- 
ed with a pair of black silk knit stockings, by her silk 
woman. 

The luxury of a linen shirt was confined to the high- 
er classes, says McCuUoch. The cloth used by the 
bulk of the people was mostly of home manufacture ; 
and, compared with what they now make use of, was 
at once costly, coarse, and comfortless. All classes, 
from the peer to the peasant, were universally without 
many articles, the daily enjoyment of which is now 
deemed essential, even by the poorest individuals. Tea 
and coffee were then wholly, and sugar almost wholly, 
unknown. 

In regard to lodgings, it appears, that in this reign, 
the dwelling of an English peasant was little superior, 
in comfort and cleanliness, to what we observe in the 
clay-built hovels of the Irish. The dwellings of the 
common people, according to Erasmus, had not yet at- 
tained the convenience of a chimney to let out the 
smoke, and the flooring of their huts was nothing but 
the bare ground ; their beds consisted of straw, among 
which was an ancient accumulation of filth and refuse, 
with a hard block of wood for a pillow. And such, in 
general, was the situation of the laboring classes, through- 
out Europe. The following passage is from ' Holing- 
shed's Chronicle,' chapter x : 

/^Neither do I speak this in reproach of any man, 
God is my judge ; but to show that I do rejoice rather 
to see how God has blessed us with his good gifts, and 
to behold how that, in a time wherein all things are 
grown to most excessive prices, we do yet find the 
means to attain and achieve such furniture, as hereto- 



348 APPENDIX. 

fore has been impossible ; there are old men yet dwel- 
ling in the village where I remain, which have noted 
three things to be marvellously altered in England 
within their sound remembrance. One is, the multi- 
tude of chimneys lately erected : whereas, in their 
young days, there were not above two or three, if so 
many, in most uplandish towns of the realm, (the re- 
ligious houses and manor places of their lords always 
excepted, and, peradventure, some great personage :) 
but each made his fire against a reredosse, in the hall 
where he dined and dressed his meat. The second is 
the great amendment of lodging ; for, said they, our 
fathers, and we ourselves, have lain full oft upon straw 
pallettes, covered only with a sheet under coverlets, 
made of dagswaine or hopharlots, (I use their own 
terms,) and a good round log under their head, instead 
of a bolster. If it were so, that the father, or the good- 
man of the house, had a matrass or flock-bed, and 
thereto a sack of chaff* to rest his head upon, he thought 
himself to be as well lodged as the lord of the town : 
so well were they contented. Pillows, they said, were 
thought meet only for women in childbed : as for ser- 
vants, if they had any sheet above them, it was well : for 
seldom had they any under their bodies, to keep them 
from the pricking straws, that ran oft through the 
canvass, and rased their hardened hides. The third 
thing they tell of is the exchange of treene platters (so 
called, I suppose, from tree or wood) into pewter, and 
wooden spoons into silver or tin. For so common 
were all sorts of treene vessels in old time, that a man 
should hardly find four pieces of pewter (of which one 
was, peradventure, a salt) in a good farmer's house." 

Again, in chapter sixteen : " In times past, men were 
contented to dwell in houses builded of sallow, willow, 
&c., so that the use of the oak was, in a manner, dedi- 
cated wholly unto churches, religious houses, princes' 
palaces, navigation, &c. ; but now, sallow, &c., are re- 
jected, and nothing but oak any where regarded ; and 
yet see the chang(3 ; for, when our houses were builded 



IMPROVEMENT IN FOOD, CLOTHING, ETC. 349 

of willow, then had we oaken men ; but now, that our 
houses are come to be made of oak, our men are not only 
become willow, but a great many altogether of straw, 
which is a sore alteration. In these, the courage of the 
owner was a sufficient defence to keep the house in safe- 
ty ; but now, the assurance of the timber must defend 
the men from robbing. Now have we many chimneys ; 
and yet our tender lines complain of rheums, catarrhs, 
and poses ; then had we none but reredosses, and our 
heads did never ache. For, as the smoke, in those days, 
was supposed to be a sufficient hardening for the timber 
of the house, so it was reputed a far better medicine to 
keep the good-man and his family from the quack or 
pose, wherewith, as then, very few were acquainted." 
Again, in chapter eighteen : " Our pewterers, in time 
past, employed the use of pewter only upon dishes and 
pots, and a few other trifles for service ; whereas, now 
they are grown into such exquisite cunning, that they 
can, in manner, imitate by infusion, any form or fashion 
of cup, dish, salt, or bowl, or goblet, which is made by 
goldsmith's craft, though they be never so curious, and 
very artificially forged. In some places beyond the 
sea, a garnish of good flat English pewter (I say flat, 
because dishes and platters, in my time, began to be 
made deep, and like basins, and are, indeed, more con- 
venient, both for sauce, and keeping the meat warm) 
is almost esteemed so precious, as the like number of 
vessels that are made of fine silver." 

2. In the Reign of George the Second. 

Food, — The author of ' Tracts on the Corn Laws,' 
who is regarded by Mr. McCulloch as high authority, 
estimates that, in 1760, not much more than half the 
population of England and Wales fed on wheat ; that 
nearly one sixth of the whole subsisted on rye, and the 
remainder on barley and oats. McCulloch is quite sure 
that, at present, there are not twenty thousand in the 
whole country who use rye ; that the use of barley and 
oats is entirely discontinued ; that wheat is now the all 
30 s. A. 



350 APPENDIX. 

but universal bread-corn of England ; and that even the 
inferior kinds of wheat are now rejected, except by the 
very lowest and poorest classes. He also calculates 
that the quantity of butchers' meat consumed in Lon- 
don, at this time, is twice as great, compared with the 
population, as it was in 1740 or 1750. The author 
of ^ The Doctor,' who is very partial to the olden time, 
speaking of the garden of a substantial yeoman, in 
Yorkshire, says, '^ A hundred years ago, potatoes had 
hardly yet found their way into these remote parts ; 
and in a sheltered spot under the crag, open to the 
south, were six beehives, which made the family per- 
fectly independent of West-India produce. Tea was 
in these days as little known as potatoes, and for all 
other things, honey supplied the place of sugar." 

Clothing, — The improvements which in this re- 
spect have been made, within even half a century, are 
very remarkable. The unparelleled abundance and 
cheapness of cotton goods, caused by the wonderful 
progress made in the cotton manufacture, have been, 
in this respect, of vast importance. " It is impossible," 
says Mr. Baines, ^^ to estimate the advantage, to the 
bulk of the people, from the wonderful cheapness of 
cotton goods. The wife of a laboring man may buy, 
at a retail shop, a neat and good print, as low as four 
pence per yard : so that, allowing seven yards for 
the dress, the whole material shall only cost two shil- 
lings and four pence. Common plain calico may be 
bought for two pence and a half per yard. Elegant 
cotton prints, for ladies' dresses, sell at from ten pence 
to one shilling and four pence per yard ; and printed 
muslins, at from one shilling to four shillings, the higher 
priced having beautiful patterns, in brilliant and per- 
manent colors. Thus, the humblest classes have now 
the means of as great neatness, and even gayety of 
dress, as the middle and upper classes of the last age. 
A country wake, in the nineteenth century, may dis- 
play as much finery as a drawing room of the eigh- 
teenth ; and the peasant's cottage may, at this day, 



IMPROVEMENT IN FOOD, CLOTHING, ETC. 351 

with good management, have as handsome furniture 
for beds, windows, and tables, as the house of a sub- 
stantial tradesman, sixty years since." — History of the 
Cotton Mmiufacture. 

The price of most other articles of clothing has also 
been considerably reduced, though not in the same de- 
gree as cottons, at the same time that their fabric has 
been improved and beautified. 

Improvements in Lodgings, — Since the middle of 
the last century, an extraordinary change for the better 
has taken place in the habitations of all classes. Any 
one must be struck with this, who compares the houses 
in the old streets and lanes, in any of our towns, with 
those built within the last fifty years. The latter are, 
in all respects, superior. They are constructed on a 
larger scale ; the apartments are more spacious and lof- 
ty ; they are better ventilated, and are supplied with 
water to an extent of which our ancestors had no idea. 
It is, in fact, to the better construction of houses, the 
greater width of streets, and, above all, to the abundant 
supply of water, and the effective system of under- 
draining that now exists, that the entire freedom of our 
great towns from epidemical diseases, and the aston- 
ishing improvement in the health of the inhabitants, 
are mainly to be ascribed. — McCulloch^s Statistics of 
Great Britain. 

II. Scotland. 

The above statements apply only to the changes that 
have taken place in the condition of the people of Eng- 
land and Wales ; but the change that has taken place 
in Scotland, since the beginning and middle of last 
century, has been still more striking and extraordinary. 
" At the periods referred to," says Mr. McCulloch, ^^ no 
manufactures, with the exception of that of hnen, had 
been introduced into Scotland. Its agriculture was in 
the most wretched state imaginable ; and the inhabi- 
tants were miserably supplied, even in the best years, 
with food, and were every now and then exposed to all 



352 APPENDIX. 

the horrors of famine. The details aheady laid before 
the reader have shown the extreme prevalence of out- 
rage and disorder in England, in the sixteenth centu- 
ry ; but Scotland was a prey to the same sort of disor- 
ders, so late as the end of the seventeenth, and the 
beginning of the eighteenth, centuries. In one of the 
discourses of the Scotch patriot, Fletcher of Saltoun, 
written in 1698, we find the following statement: ] 

^' ' There are, at this day, in Scotland, (besides a great 
many poor families, very meanly provided for by the 
church boxes, with others, who, by living on bad food, \ 
fall into various diseases,) two hundred thousand peo- \ 
pie begging from door to door. These are not only no 
way advantageous, but a very grievous burden to so 
poor a country. 'And though the number of them be, 
perhaps, double to what it was formerly, by reason 
of this present great distress, yet, in all times, there 
have been about one hundred thousand of those vag- 
abonds, who have lived without any regard or subjec- 
tion, either to the laws of the land, or even those of 
God and Nature. No magistrate could ever discover, 
or be informed, which way one in a hundred of those 
wretches died, or that ever they were baptized. Many 
murders have been discovered among them ; and they are 
not only a most unspeakable oppression to poor tenants, 
(who, if they give not bread, or some kind of provis- 
ion, to perhaps forty such villains in one day, are sure 
to be insulted by them,) but they rob many poor peo- 
ple, who live in houses distant from any neighborhood. 
In years of plenty, many thousands of them meet to- 
gether in the mountains, where they feast and riot for 
many days ; and at country weddings, markets, burials, 
and other the like public occasions, they are to be seen, 
both men and women, perpetually drunk, cursing, blas- 
pheming, and fighting together.' " 

We suspect there must be some exaggeration in this 
striking paragraph ; for, as Scotland did not, at the pe- 
riod referred to, contain more than a million of inhab- 
itants, it is difficult to suppose, notwithstanding the 



IMPROVEMENT IN FOOD, CLOTHING, ETC. 353 

peculiar distress by which she was then visited, that 
two hundred thousand persons, or a fifth part of the 
entire population, could be given up to the mendicancy 
and disorders described above. But the intelligence 
and good faith of Fletcher are unquestionable ; and 
there can not be the shadow of a doubt, that the dis- 
orders to which he refers were of long standing, and 
upon the most gigantic scale, and that he did not be- 
lieve he had in any degree overstated them. Indeed, 
so impressed was he by the idleness and crime then so 
prevalent, and by the enormities he had witnessed, that, 
to introduce good order and industry, he did not scru- 
ple to recommend the establishment of a system of 
predial slavery, to which the vagabonds in question and 
their children should be subjected ! The nature of the 
proposed remedy shows what the disease must have 
been. 

The establishment of schools, and of a more vigor- 
ous and impartial system of government, happily suc- 
ceeded in repressing these disorders. But the people 
of Scotland continued, till a comparatively recent pe- 
riod, without manufactures or trade, and were involved 
in the extreme of misery and destitution. The follow- 
ing authentic paragraph, extracted from the statistical 
account of the parish of Meigle, in Strathmore, contrib- 
uted by the late Rev. Dr. Playfair, of St. Andrew's, 
may be considered as applying to the whole surround- 
ing district : 

^' Since the year 1745, a fortunate epoch for Scot- 
land, in general, improvements have been carried on 
with great ardor and success. At that time, the state 
of the country was rude, beyond conception. The 
most fertile tracts were waste, or indifferently cultiva- 
ted. The education, manners, dress, furniture, and 
tables, of the gentry were not so liberal, decent, and 
sumptuous, as those of ordinary farmers are, at present. 
The common people, clothed in the coarsest garb, and 
starving on the meanest fare, lived in despicable huts, 
with their cattle. 

30* 



354 APPENDIX. 

" The half-ploughed fields yielded scanty crops, and 
manufactures scarcely existed. Almost every improve- 
ment in agriculture is of late date ; for no ground was 
then fallowed ; no peas, grass, turnips, nor potatoes, 
were then raised ; no cattle were fattened ; and little 
grain was exported. Oats and barley were alternate- 
ly sown ; and, during seven months of the year, the best 
soil was ravaged by flocks of sheep, a certain number 
of which was annually sold and carried off*, to be fed 
on richer pastures. 

^' The inactivity and indolence of farmers were as- 
tonishing. When seed-time was finished, the plough 
and harrow were laid aside till after Autumn ; and the 
sole employment of the farmer and his servants con- 
sisted in weeding the corn-fields, and in digging and 
carrying home peat, turf, and heath, for Winter fuel. 
The produce of the farm was barely sufficient to enable 
the tenant to pay a trifling rent and servants' wages, 
and to procure for his family a scanty subsistence." 

In the Highlands, the situation of the inhabitants 
was, if possible, worse. The writer of the statistical 
account of the united parishes of Lochgoilhead and 
Kilmorish, in Argyleshire, referring to the state of the 
people about 1760, observes,— 

"^ Indolence was almost the only comfort they enjoy- 
ed. There was scarcely any variety of wretchedness, 
with which they were not obliged to struggle, or rath- 
er, to which they were not obliged to submit. They 
often felt what it was to want food. The scanty crops 
they raised were consumed by their cattle, in Winter 
and Spring; for a great part of the year they lived 
wholly on milk, and even that, by the end of the Spring 
and the beginning of Summer, was very scarce. To 
such an extremity were they frequently reduced, that 
they were obliged to bleed their cattle, in order to sub- 
sist some time on the blood, (boiled ;) and even the 
inhabitants of the glens and valleys repaired in crowds 
to the shore, at the distance of three or four miles, to 
pick up the scanty provision which the shell-fish afford- 



IMPROVEMENT IN FOOD, CLOTHING, ETC. 355 

ed them. They were miserably ill-clothed, and the 
huts in which they hved were dirty and mean, beyond 
description. How different from their present situa- 
tion ! They now enjoy the necessaries, and many of 
the comforts, of life, in abundance ; even those who are 
supported by the charity of the parish feel no real 
want." The southern counties presented the same 
picture of sloth, poverty, and wretchedness. The late 
Rev. Mr. Smith, in his ' Agricultural Survey of Wigtown 
and Kirkcudbright,' published in 1810, gives, on author- 
ity of persons '^ now living," the following details, with 
respect to the state of husbandry, and the condition of 
the people, towards the middle of the last century : 

" Estates appear to have been broken down into very 
small farms ; or, where these were large, they were held 
in common, by two, three, or even four, different ten- 
ants, who divided the labor and produce in a propor- 
tion corresponding to their rent. These, when in til- 
lage, were sometimes run-rigg, when each had his pro- 
portion allotted ; sometimes, the whole was ploughed, 
sowed, and reaped, in common, and the produce divid- 
ed in the field, barn, or barn-yard. Houses or sheds, 
for the whole cattle of the farm, never entered into 
their conception. Their cows were indeed not un- 
comfortably lodged ; very often under the same roof 
with themselves, and sometimes without any interven- 
ing wall or partition. Their houses were commonly 
wretched, dirty hovels, built with stones and mud; 
thatched with fern and turf; without chimneys ; filled 
with smoke ; black with soot ; having low doors, and 
small holes for windows, with wooden shutters, or, in 
place of these, often stopped with turf, straw, or frag- 
ments of old clothes. 

" The principal object of tillage was to afford straw 
for the Winter support of the few cattle which the pas- 
ture (if such it could be called) maintained in Sum- 
mer. As they always overstocked, this was a difficult 
task ; and the poor starved animals, before the return 
of Spring, were reduced to the greatest extremities. 



356 APPENDIX. 

Through mere weakness, often they could not rise of 
themselves. It was a constant practice to gather to- 
gether neighbors to lift the cows or horses, or to draw 
them out of the bogs and quagmires into which they 
were tempted by the first appearances of vegetation. 

^' Nothing, but the frugal, penurious manner in which! 
the peasantry then lived, could have enabled them to| 
subsist and pay any rent whatever. Their clothing 
was of the coarsest materials ; their furniture and gar- 
dening utensils were often made by themselves ; their 
food, always the produce of their farms, was little ex- 
pensive, consisting chiefly of oat-meal, vegetables, and 
the produce of the dairy ; if a little animal food was 
occasionally added, it was generally the refuse of the 
flock, unfit to be brought to market." 

The situation even of the Lothians was but little bet- 
ter. So late as 1757, neither turnips, potatoes, clover, 
nor cultivated herbage of any sort, had been introduc- 
ed into that district. The condition of the occupiers 
and of the peasantry was also exceedingly depressed. 
It is stated by Mr. Robertson, that, so late as 1765, 
mendicity in the Lothians was so very prevalent, that 
hardly a day passed, in which farm-houses were not 
visited by beggars, and hardly a week, without some 
of them getting a night's lodging in the barn. — ' Rural 
Recollections.' 

Such was the abject state of Scotland, about the mid- 
dle of the last century ! And we are bold to say, that 
the contrast between the savages, by whom Kentucky 
was formerly occupied, and its present civilized inhab- 
itants, is hardly greater than the contrast between the 
farmers and laborers of Scotland, in 1770, and those of 
the present day. The existing Scotch farmers are dis- 
tinguished by their superior intelligence and skill in ag- 
riculture, the excellence of their stock and implements, 
and their genteel, comfortable style of living. The 
laborers, too, are universally well fed, and well clothed ; 
their cottages are generally comfortable and well fur- 
nished ; and they are all in the enjoyment of luxuries, 



IMPROVEMENT IN FOOD, CLOTHING, ETCo 357 

that formerly were never tasted, even by the most ex- 
tensive proprietors. 

The demand for butchers' meat, in Scotland, has in- 
creased, in the most extraordinary manner. So late as 
1763, the slaughter of bullocks, for the supply of the 
public markets, was a thing wholly unknown, even in 
Glasgow, though the city had then a population of 
nearly thirty thousand ! Previously to 1775, or per- 
haps later, it was customary in Edinburgh, Glasgow, 
and the principal Scotch towns, for families to pur- 
chase, in November, what would now be reckoned a 
small, miserable, half-fed cow or ox, the salted carcass 
of which was the only butchers' meat they tasted 
throughout the year. In the smaller towns and coun- 
try districts this practice prevailed, till the present cen- 
tury ; but it is now almost every where abandoned. 
The consumption of butchers' meat in Glasgow, as 
compared with the population, does not at present dif- 
fer materially from that of the metropohs. We do not 
indeed believe that the command of the people of any 
country over food and all sorts of conveniences, ever 
increased, in any equal period, half so rapidly as that 
of the people of Scotland has done, since 1770. — 
McCullocKs Statistics. 

III. United States. 

An aged friend states, that fifty-five years ago, in 
Connecticut, a substantial farmer used tea very rarely, 
in his family, coffee never ; that wheaten bread was 
brought on the table only on the most remarkable oc- 
casions ; that there were no carpets or umbrellas ; that 
almost the entire raiment worn was of domestic manu- 
facture, being coarse linen or woollen ; that there were 
no wheel-carriages used, except that now and then a 
very considerable person rode in a one-horse chaise, 
of two wheels, and rude construction ; that all travel- 
ling was on foot or horseback ; that there was no stage- 
coach or public conveyance for passengers ; that the 
principal food was beans, pork, and Indian bread ; 



358 APPENDIX. 

that hardly any sugar was used, except that made from 
the maple tree of the woods, nor any molasses, except 
what they extracted from cornstalks; that hardly any 
cooking utensils were used, except a frying-pan and 
iron pot ; and that they ate almost invariably off of 
wooden trenchers, and drank tea, in most cases, out of 
wooden cups. 

Any person acquainted with the habits of this class 
of people, now, will see at once, that the change, which, 
within half a century, has taken place in their condi- 
tion, is immense. Wooden bowls and cups have giv- 
en place to cheap, cleanly, and oftentimes to elegant, 
earthen-ware and porcelain ; the inmates of the family 
are clothed with materials gathered from all quarters 
of the world, and wrought into warm, delicate fabrics in 
the looms of England, France, and America ; wheaten 
bread is considered an indispensable article of daily 
consumption ; fresh meat is used almost daily, and su- 
gar in abundance ; the potato, and other garden veg- 
etables, are cultivated universally, and form a grateful 
and cheap addition to the meal, throughout the year ; 
tea and coffee are regarded as indispensable ; few fam- 
ilies are without umbrellas and carpets ; and every far- 
mer must have his pleasure wagon. 

A newspaper of Albany, bearing date in 1797, is 
now before me ; and, among many other advertisements, 
indicating the state of society at that time, I find cot- 
ton thread is advertised by one person as a new arti- 
cle, and peculiarly valuable, because it had been spun 
in Rhode Island, by water. It is to be presumed, that, 
at this time, there was no cotton factory in the State 
of New York ; and that spinning by water had just 
commenced in our Country. 

IV. Notices of the Mode of Living in England, pre- 
vious TO THE TIME OF QuEEN ELIZABETH. 

To enable the reader to extend the comparison be- 
tween the past and present state of the arts in England, 
some further notices are added. 



IMPROVEMENT IN FOOD, CLOTHING, ETC. 359 

1. England, in the Reign of Henry the Seventh. 

The household book of the Duke of Northumber- 
land, edited by Bishop Percy, may give us some notion 
of the mode of life in the noblest and most opulent fam- 
ilies of England, at the beginning of the sixteenth cen- 
tury. 

The number of persons in the establishment was 
about tivo hundred and twenty^ of whom something 
o\ ex fifty were strangers or guests, daily provided for. 

The average expense of meat, drink, and fire, for 
each person, was reckoned at two pence and a half- 
penny per day, which Hume supposes would be equiv- 
alent to about fourteen pence in his time. These 
items formed two thirds of the whole expense of the 
estabhshment. 

The frugality , with which the household was man- 
aged, appears from the fact, that no servant could be 
absent a day, without having his mess struck off; the 
number of pieces which must be cut from every quar- 
ter of beef, mutton, pork, or veal, and even from fish, 
are determined, and must be entered or accounted for, 
by the different clerks appointed for that purpose ; no 
capons or other poultry were allowed, except ^' for my 
lord's own mess," nor were plovers to be bought even 
for that purpose, except '' in Christmas and principal 
feasts ; and my lord to be served therewith, and none 
other, and to be bought for apenny a piece, or a penny 
half penny, at most.^^ 

The luxuries enjoyed may be inferred from the fact, 
that the family had fresh meat only from midsummer to 
Michaelmas, (September twenty-ninth), living all the rest 
of the year on salted meat, with few or no vegetables ; 
that no sheets ivere used ; that only forty shillings are al- 
lowed for washing throughout the whole year, most of 
which seems to have been expended on the linen be- 
longing to the chapel ; that only seventy ells of Hnen, 
at eight pence a yard, are annually allowed for this 
great family, this linen being made into eight table- 
cloths for my lord's table, and one table-cloth for the 



360 APPENDIX. 

knights, the servants having none ; that only ninety- 
one dozen of candles and eighty chaldrons of coals 
w^ere allowed for the establishment through the year ; 
and that after Lady-day no iBres were permitted in the 
rooms, except '' half-fires, in my lord's and lady's, and 
Lord Piercy's, and the nursery." He seems to have 
had but two cooks for this household ; to have occu- 
pied three country seats, having furniture only for one. 
" No mention," Hume says, " is any where made of 
plate ; but only of the hiring of pewter vessels. The 
servants seem all to have bought their own clothes 
from their wages." See Hume, Vol. iii. Note (G.) 

2. England, in the Reign of Edward the Third, (1365.) 

The following view of the condition of the English 
people, in this reign, is extracted from a tract on the 
' Rights of Industry,' published in the ' Workingman's 
Companion.' 

In the reign of Edward the Third, Colchester, in 
Essex, was considered the tenth city in England, in 
point of population. It then paid a poll-tax for two 
thousand nine hundred and fifty-five lay-persons. In 
13 11, about half a century before, the number of inhab- 
itant housekeepers was three hundred and ninety ; and 
the whole household furniture, utensils, clothes, money, 
cattle, corn, and every other property found in the 
town, was valued at £518. 16^. 0|d. This valuation 
took place on occasion of a subsidy or tax to the crown, 
to carry on a war against France ; and the particulars, 
which are preserved in the Rolls of Parliament, exhibit, 
with great minuteness, the classes of persons then in- 
habiting that town, and the sort of property which each 
respectively possessed. The trades exercised in Col- 
chester were the following : — baker, barber, blacksmith, 
bowyer, brewer, butcher, carpenter, carter, cobbler, cook, 
dyer, fisherman, fuller, furrier, girdler, glass-seller, glov- 
er, linendraper, mercer and spice-seller, miller, mus- 
tard and vinegar seller, old-clothes-seller, saddler, tailor, 
tanner, tyler, weaver, woodcutter, and woolcomber. 



IMPROVEMENT IN FOOD, CLOTHING, ETC. 361 

If you look at a small town, of the present day, where 
such a variety of occupations are carried on, you will 
find that each tradesman has a considerable stock of 
commodities, abundance of furniture and utensils, 
clothes in plenty, some plate, books, and many articles 
of convenience and luxury, to which the most wealthy 
dealers and mechanics of Colchester, of the fourteenth 
century, were utter strangers. That many places, at 
that time, were much poorer than Colchester, there can 
be no doubt ; for here we see the division of labor was 
pretty extensive, and that is always a proof that produc- 
tion is going forward, however imperfectly. We see, 
too, that the tradesmen were connected with manufac- 
tures, in the ordinary use of the term ; or there would 
not have been the dyer, the glover, the linendraper, 
the tanner, the weaver, and the woolcomber. There 
must have been a demand for articles of foreign com- 
merce, too, in this town, or we should not have had the 
spice-seller. Yet, with all these various occupations^ 
indicating considerable profitable industry, when com- 
pared with earlier stages in the history of this country^ 
the whole stock of the town was valued at little more 
than five hundred pounds. Nor let it be supposed that 
this smallness of capital can be accounted for, by the dif- 
ference in the standard of money ; for £518, of the time 
of Edward the Third, would amount only to £1450, 
of our present money.*" We may indeed satisfy our- 
selves of the small extent of the capital of individuals 
at that day, by referring to the inventory of the articles 
upon which the tax we have mentioned was laid at 
Colchester. 

The whole stock of a carpenter's tools was valued 
at one shilling. They altogether consisted of two 
broadaxes, an adze, a square, and a navegor, or spoke- 
shave. Rough work must the carpenter have been 
able to perform with these humble instruments ; but, 
then, let it be remembered, that there was little capital 

* Eden's Table of the Convertible Value of British Money, in his 
History of the Poor. 

31 S. A. 



362 APPENDIX. 

to pay him for finer work, and that very little fine work 
was consequently required. The three hundred and 
ninety housekeepers of Colchester then lived in mud 
huts, with a rough door and no chimney. Harrison, 
speaking of the manners of a century later than the 
period we are describing, says, " There were very few 
chimneys, even in capital towns : the fire was laid to 
the wall, and the smoke issued out at the roof, or door, 
or window. The houses were wattled, and plastered 
over with clay ; and all the furniture and utensils were 
of wood. The people slept on straw pallets, with a 
log of wood for a pillow." When this old historian 
wrote, he mentions the erection of chimneys as a mod- 
ern luxury. We had improved httle upon our Anglo- 
Saxon ancestors in the article of chimneys. In their 
time, Alcuin, an abbot who had ten thousand vassals, 
writes to the Emperor at Rome, that he preferred liv- 
ing in his smoky house, to visiting the palaces of Italy. 
This was in the ninth century. Five hundred years 
had made little difference in the chimneys of Colchester. 
The nobility had hangings against the walls, to keep 
out the wind, which crept in through the crevices 
which the builder's bungling art had left ; the middle 
orders had no hangings. Shakspeare alludes to this 
rough building of houses, even in his time : 

" Imperial Coesar, dead, and turned to clay, 
Might stop a hole, to keep the wind away." 

Even the nobility went without glass to their win- 
dows, in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. ^^ Of 
old time," says Harrison, '' our countrie-houses, instead 
of glasse, did use much lattice, and that made either 
of wicker, or fine rifts of oak, in checkerwise." When 
glass was introduced, it was for a long time so scarce, 
that at Alnwick Castle, in 1567, the glass was ordered 
to be taken out of the windows, and laid up in safety, 
when the lord was absent. 

The mercer's stock-in-trade, at Colchester, was 
much upon a level with the carpenter's tools. It was 
somewhat various, but very limited in quantity. The 



IMPROVEMENT IN FOOD, CLOTHING^ ETC. 363 

whole comprised a piece of woollen cloth, some silk 
and fine linen, flannel, silk purses, gloves, girdles, 
leather purses, and needle-work ; and it was altogether 
valued at £3 ; or £9, of our present money. There 
appears to have been another dealer in cloth and linen 
in the town, whose store was equally scanty. We 
were not much improved in the use of linen, a century 
later. We learn from the Earl of Northumberland's 
household book, whose family was large enough to 
consume one hundred and sixty gallons of mustard, 
during the Winter, with their salt meat, that only sev- 
enty ells of linen were allowed for a year's consump- 
tion. In the fourteenth century, none but the clergy 
and nobihty wore white linen. As industry increased, 
and the cleanliness of the middle classes increased with 
it, the use of white linen became more general. But, 
even at the end of the next century, when printing was 
invented, the paper-makers had the greatest difficulty 
in procuring rags for their manufacture ; and so careful 
were the people of every class to preserve their linen, 
that night-clothes were never worn. Linen was so dear, 
that Shakspeare makes Falstaff's shirts eight shillings 
an ell. The more sumptuous articles of a mercer's 
stock were treasured in rich families, from generation 
to generation ; and even the wives of the nobility did 
not disdain to mention in their wills a particular article 
of clothing, which they left to the use of a daughter or 
a friend. The solitary old coat of a baker came into 
the Colchester valuation ; nor is this to be wondered at, 
when we find that even the soldiers at the battle of 
Bannockburn, about this time, were described by an 
old rhymer as ''well near all naked." 

The household-furniture found in use amongst the 
families of Colchester consisted, in the more wealthy, of 
an occasional bed, a brass pot, a brass cup, a gridiron, 
and a rug or two, and perhaps a towel. Of chairs and 
tables we hear nothing. We learn from the Chronicles 
of Brantome, a French historian of these days, that 
even the nobility sat upon chests, in which they kept 



364 APPENDIX. 

their clothes and hnen. Harrison, whose testimony we 
have already given to the poverty of these times, af- 
firms, that if a man, in seven years after marriage, could 
purchase a flock-bed, and a sack of chaff to rest his 
head upon, he thought himself as well lodged as the 
lord of the town, ' who perad venture lay seldom on a 
bed entirely of feathers.' An old tenure in England, 
before these times, binds the vassal to find straw even 
for the king's bed. The beds of flock, the few articles 
of furniture, the absence of chairs and tables, would 
have been of less consequence to the comfort and 
health of the people, if they had been clean ; but clean- 
liness never exists without a certain possession of do- 
mestic conveniences. The people of England, in the 
days of which we are speaking, were not famed for 
their attention to this particular. Thomas a Becket was 
reputed extravagantly nice, because he had his parlor 
strowed every day with clean straw. As late as the 
reign of Henry the Eighth, Erasmus, a celebrated schol- 
ar of Holland, who visited England, complains that the 
nastiness of the people was the cause of the frequent 
plagues that destroyed them ; and he says, ^ their floors 
are commonly of clay, strowed with rushes, under 
which lie, unmolested, a collection of beer, grease, 
fragments, bones, spittle, excrements of dogs and cats, 
and of every thing that is nauseous.' The elder Scal- 
iger, another scholar who came to England, abuses the 
people for giving him no convenience to wash his 
hands. Glass vessels were scarce, and pottery was al- 
most wholly unknown. The Earl of Northumberland, 
whom we have mentioned, breakfasted on trenchers 
and dined on pewter. While such universal sloven- 
liness prevailed, as Erasmus has described, it is not 
likely that much attention was generally paid to the 
cultivation of the mind. Before the invention of print- 
ing, at the time of the valuation of Colchester, books 
in manuscript, from their extreme costliness, could be 
purchased only by princes. The royal library of Paris, 
in 1378, consisted of nine hundred and nine volumes ; 



IMPROVEMENT IN FOOD; CLOTHING, ETC. 365 

an extraordinary number. The same library now com- 
prises upwards of four hundred thousand volumes. 
But it may fairly be assumed, that where one book 
could be obtained, in the fourteenth century, by per- 
sons of the working classes, four hundred thousand 
may be as easily obtained now. Here, then, was a 
privation, which existed five hundred years ago, which 
debarred our ancestors from more profit and pleasure, 
than the want of beds, and chairs, and linen ; and 
probably, if this privation had continued, and men, 
therefore, had not cultivated their understandings, they 
would not have learnt to give any really profitable di- 
rection to their labor, and we should still have been as 
scantily supplied with furniture and clothes, as the good 
people of Colchester, of whom you have been reading. 

Now, let us compare the Colchester of the nine- 
teenth century, with the Colchester of the fourteenth, in 
a few particulars. 

In the reign of Edward the Third, Colchester num- 
bered three hundred and fifty-nine houses of mud, with- 
out chimneys, and with latticed windows. In the reign 
of William the Fourth, it has six hundred and twelve 
houses, each at a rent above ten pounds. The houses 
below ten pounds are not mentioned in the return 
from which we derive this information. Houses of ten 
pounds a year and upwards are, as you know, com- 
monly built of brick, and slated or tiled ; secured against 
wind and weather; with glazed windows and with 
chimneys ; and generally well ventilated. The worst 
of these houses are supplied, as fixtures, with a great 
number of conveniences, such as grates, and cupboards, 
and fastenings. To many of such houses, gardens are 
attached, wherein are raised vegetables and fruits, that 
kings could not command two centuries ago. Houses 
such as these are composed of several rooms, — not of 
one room only, where the people are compelled to eat 
and sleep, and perform every office, perhaps in company 
with pigs and cattle, — ^but of a kitchen and often a par- 
lor, and several bedrooms. These rooms are furnish- 
31* 



366 APPENDIX. 

ed with tables, and chairs, and beds, and cooking-uten- 
sils. There is ordinarily, too, something for ornament 
and something for instruction, — a piece or two of china, 
silver spoons, books, and not unfrequently a watch or 
clock. The useful pottery is abundant, and of really 
elegant forms and colors ; drinking-vessels of glass are 
not uncommon. The inhabitants are not scantily sup- 
plied with clothes. The females are decently dressed, 
having a constant change of linen, and gowns of various 
patterns and degrees of fineness. Some, even of the 
humbler classes, are not thought to exceed the proper 
appearance of their station if they wear silk. The men 
have decent working habits, strong shoes and hats, and 
a respectable suit for Sundays, of cloth often as good 
as is worn by the highest in the land. Every one is 
clean ; for no house, above the few hovels which still 
deform the land, is without soap and bowls for wash- 
ing, and it is the business of the females to take care 
that the linen of the family is constantly washed. The 
children almost universally receive instruction in some 
public establishment ; and when the labor of the day is 
over, the father thinks the time unprofitably spent, un- 
less he burns a candle, to enable him to read a book or 
the newspaper. The food which is ordinarily consum- 
ed is of the best quality. Wheaten bread is no longer 
confined to the rich ; animal food is not necessarily 
salted, and salt meat is used principally as a variety ; 
vegetables of many sorts are plenteous, in every market, 
and these, by a succession of care, are brought to higher 
perfection than in the countries of more genial climate, 
from which we have imported them ; the productions, 
too, of distant regions, such as spices, and coffee, and 
tea, are universally consumed, almost by the humblest in 
the land. Fuel, also, of the best quality, is abundant, 
and comparatively cheap. 

If we look at the public conveniences of a modern 
English town, we shall find the same striking contrast. 
Water is brought not only into every street, but into 
every house ; the dust and dirt of a family is regularly 



IMPROVEMENT IN FOOD, CLOTHING, ETC. 367 

removed, without bustle or unpleasantness ; the streets 
are paved, and lighted at night ; roads, in the highest 
state of excellence, connect the town with the whole 
kingdom, so that a man can travel a hundred miles 
more readily, now, than he could ten miles, in the old 
time ; and canal and sea navigation transport the weigh- 
tiest goods, with the greatest facility, from each district 
to the other, and from each town to the other, so that 
all are enabled to apply their industry to what is most 
profitable for each and all. Every man, therefore, 
may satisfy his wants, according to his means, at the 
least possible expense of the transport of commodities. 
Every tradesman has a stock ready to meet the demand ; 
and thus the stock of a very moderately wealthy trades- 
man, of the Colchester of the present day, is worth more 
than all the stock of all the different trades that were 
carried on in the same place in the fourteenth century. 
To effect these public conveniences, millions of capital 
have been invested, which sums have afforded profitable 
labor to millions of workmen. Look at the iron trade, 
which has so large a share in all public works. In the 
year 1788, sixty thousand tons of cast iron were manu- 
factured. In the year 1828, the amount of the prod- 
uce of cast iron was six hundred thousand tons. A 
large portion of this enormous increase has been ap- 
plied to the internal improvement of the country, in wa- 
ter-pipes, gas-pipes, bridges, rail-roads. 

But to allow us to form a tolerable estimate of the 
increased production and accumulation of this country, 
we must take a few general points of comparison, which 
may enable us to esthnate the astonishing extent of this 
production and accumulation, more accurately, even, 
than from the individual case we have exhibited. 

And first,, of the population of the country; for an 
increase of population always shows an increase of pro- 
duction, since without increased production, the amount 
of population must remain stationary, with dimhiished 
production, it must become less, and if there were no 
production, and therefore no accumulation, population 



368 APPENDIX. 

would be altogether extinguished. Mr. Turner, the his- 
torian of the Anglo-Saxons, has estimated, from ' Domes- 
day Book,' that the population of England at the time 
of the Norman Conquest somewhat exceeded two mil- 
lions. It has been estimated, by Mr. Chalmers, that in 
1377, the population did not exceed 2,350,000 souls. 
There was an increase, therefore, of only the third of a 
million, in three centuries and a half. From 1377 ta^ 
1821, a period of four centuries and a half, the popula-f 
tion of England had increased to nearly twelve millions, 
or five times the amount of the population of 1377. 
The increased production of the country must have 
gone forward in the same proportion, to say nothing of 
the much greater comparative increase of production 
demanded by the change for the better in the habits of 
every class of the consumers. We have no materials for 
comparing the general production of five hundred years 
ago with the general production of the present day; 
yet every man may compare, in his own mind, the state 
in which he himself fives, and the state in which the 
people of Colchester fived, at the time we have de- 
scribed. To assist this comparison, we will furnish a 
few particulars of the present home consumption of 
the kingdom, in the great staple articles of her com- 
merce and manufactures. We only take those articles 
which can be accurately estimated. 

Of wheat, fifteen million quarters are annually con- 
sumed in Great Britian. This is about a quarter of 
wheat to each individual.^ Of malt, twenty-five mil- 
lion bushels are annually used in breweries and distil- 
leries in the United Kingdom ; and there are forty-six 
thousand acres under cultivation with hops. Of the 
quantity of potatoes and other vegetables consumed, 
we have no accounts. Of meat, about one million two 
hundred and fifty thousand head of cattle, sheep, and 
pigs, are sold during the year, in Smithfield market 
alone, which is probably about a tenth of the consump- 

♦ This calculation does not include Ireland, as the subsequent esti- 
mates do. 



IMPROVEMENT IN FOOD, CLOTHING, ETC. 369 

tion of the whole kingdom. The quantity of tea con- 
sumed in the United Kingdom is about thirty milHon 
pounds annually. Of sugar, nearly four million hun- 
dred-weights, or about five hundred million pounds, ev- 
ery year, which is a consumption of twenty pounds for 
every individual, reckoning the population at twenty- 
five millions ; and of coffee, about twenty million pounds 
are annually consumed. Of soap, one hundred and 
fourteen million pounds are consumed ; and of candles, 
about a hundred and seventeen milhon pounds. Of 
sea-borne coals alone there are about three million 
chaldrons consumed, in England and Wales ; and it is 
estimated that, adding the coals of the great coal fields 
of South Wales, of Yorkshire, Lancashire, and the mid- 
land counties, each person of the population consumes 
a chaldron throughout the kingdom. Of clothing, we 
annually manufacture about two hundred million pounds 
of cotton wool, which produce twelve hundred million 
yards of calico and various other cotton fabrics, and of 
these we export about a third ; so that eight hundred 
million yards remain for home consumption, being 
about thirty-two yards, annually, for each person. The 
woollen manufacture consumes about thirty million 
pounds of wool. Of hides and skins, about fifty mil- 
lions are annually tanned and dressed. Of paper, 
about fifty million pounds are yearly manufactured, 
which is about two million reams, of five hundred sheets 
to the ream. 

To carry on the commerce of this country with for- 
eign nations, and between distant parts of the United 
Kingdom, there are twenty thousand ships, in constant 
employ, belonging to our own merchants. To carry on 
the commerce with ourselves, the total length of our 
turnpike roads is twenty-five thousand miles, and three 
thousand miles of canals. To produce food for the in- 
habitants of the country, we have forty million acres un- 
der cultivation. To clothe them, we have millions of 
spindles, worked by steam, instead of a few thousands, 
turned by hand, as they were a century ago. The fixed 



370 APPENDIX. 



1 



capital of the country insured in fire-offices, that insu- 
rance being far short of its real amount, is above five 
hundred miUion pounds sterling. The fixed capital un- 
insured, or not represented by this species of insurance, 
is perhaps as much. The capital expended in improve- 
ment in land is, we should conceive, equal to the capital 
vrhich is represented by houses, and furniture, and ship- 
ping, and stocks of goods. The public capital of the 
country expended in roads, canals, docks, harbors, and 
buildings, is equal to at least half the private capital. 
All this capital is the accumulated labor of two thous- 
and years, when the civilization of the country first 
began. The greater portion of it is the accumulated 
labor of the last four hundred years, when labor and 
capital, through the partial abolition of slavery, first be- 
gan to work together with freedom, and therefore with 
energy and skill. We shall show you the objects to 
which this succession of labor, working with accumu- 
lation, has been applied, and the instruments with which 
these two great powers have worked. 

It may not be uninteresting to have some further no- 
tices of the condition of the English people in the four- 
teenth century. Baker, in his Chronicle, (page 128,) 
tells us, that in the " parliament holden in thirty-sev- 
enth of Edward the Third, certain sumptuary laws 
were ordained, both for apparel and diet ; appointing 
every degree of men the stuffe and habits they should 
wear, prohibiting the wearing of gold, silver, silks, 
and rich furs, to all but eminent persons. The la- 
borer and husbandman is appointed but one meal a 
day, and what meats he should eat.^^ 

While these restrictions were laid on the common 
people, what were the habits of their superiors ? Fam- 
ines occurred almost every year, and yet we read, in 
Mathew Paris, (see Henry, vol. iv. page 511,) that, at 
the installation of Ralph, Abbot of St. Augustine, Can- 
terbury, six thousand guests were entertained at a din- 
ner consisting of three thousand dishes ; that " it would 
require a long treatise to describe the astonishing splen- 



IMPROVEMENT IN FOOD, CLOTHING, ETC. 371 

dor and festivity with which the nuptials of Richard, 
Earl of Cornwall, were celebrated at London. To 
give the reader some idea of it, in few words, above 
thirty thousand dishes were served up at the marriage- 
dinner ;" and the writer states, that, at another marriage- 
feast, made on occasion of the marriage, at York, of a 
daughter of the King of England, '^ the Archbishop of 
York made the King of England a present of sixty fat 
oxen, which made only one article of provision for the 
feast, and were all consumed at that entertainment." 

Chaucer, in the 'Parson's Tale,' complains that '^ pride 
of the table appereth full ofte ; for certes riche men 
be called to festes, and pore folks ben put away and 
rebuked. And also in excess of divers metes and 
drinkes ; and namely such maner bake metes, and dish 
metes brenning of wild fire peynted and castelled with 
paper and samblable waste, so that it is abusion to 
think." 

In regard to dress, Mathew Paris states, that, at the 
marriage above referred to, of a daughter of Henry the 
Third of England, the King was attended by one thous- 
and knights, uniformly dressed in silk robes; ''and the 
next day, these knights appeared in new dresses, no less 
splendid and expensive." 

Of the clergy, Chaucer says, — 

** They hie on horse willeth to ride 
In glitterande golde of grete arai, 
Peynted and portrid all in pride, 
No common knight maye go so gaie ; 
Chaunge of clothing every daie, 
With golden girdels great and small." 

Henry, vol. iv. page 508, thus describes the dress of 
an English beau of the fourteenth century : " He wore 
lorig pointed shoes, fastened to his knees by gold or 
silver chains ; hose of one color on one leg, and of an- 
other color on the other ; short breeches, which did not 
reach to the middle of his thighs, and disclosed the 
shape of all the parts included in them ; a coat, one 
half white and the other half black or blue ; a long 



372 APPENDIX. 

beard ; a silk hood, buttoned under his chin, embroid- 
ered with grotesque figures of animals, dancing men, 
&c., and sometimes ornamented with gold, silver, and 
precious stones. This dress, which was the very top 
of the mode in the reign of Edward the Third, appear- 
ed so ridiculous to the Scots, (who probably could not 
afford to be such egregious fops,) that they made the 
following satirical verses upon it : 

*' Longbierds hirtiless, 
Peynted whoods witles, 
Gay cotes gracieles, 
Maketh England thriftieles." 

The dress of the gay and fashionable ladies, who fre- 
quented the public diversions of those times, was not 
more decent or becoming. It is thus described by 
Knyghton, A. D. 1348 : 

'' These tournaments are attended by many ladies of 
the first rank and greatest beauty, but not always of the 
most untainted reputation. These ladies are dressed 
in party-colored tunics, one half being of one color and 
the other half of another ; their lirripipes, or tippets, 
are very short ; their caps remarkably little, and wrapt 
about their heads with cords ; their girdles and pouches 
are ornamented with gold and silver ; and they wore 
short swords, called daggers, before them ; they are 
mounted on the finest horses with the richest furniture. 
Thus equipped, they ride from place to place, in quest 
of tournaments, by which they dissipate their fortunes, 
and sometimes ruin their reputations." 

The head-dresses of the ladies underwent many 
changes in the course of this period. They were some- 
times enormously high, rising almost three feet above 
the head, in the shape of sugar-loaves, with streamers 
of fine silk flowing from the top of them to the ground. 
Upon the whole, I am fully persuaded, that we have 
no good reason to pay any compliments to our ances- 
tors of this period, at the expense of our contempora- 
ries, either for the frugality, elegance, or decency, of 
tlieir dress. The common people in Wales (where the 



MISCELLANEOUS NOTICES. 373 

arts had made little progress) were very imperfectly 
clothed in this period. The Welshmen in the army 
of Edward the Second were known, in their flight from 
the battle of Bannockburn, by the meanness of their 
dress. 

*' Sir Maurice also, the Barclay, 
Fra the great battle hed his way ; 
With a great rout of Walishmen, 
Where'er they yied men might them ken ; 
For they well near all naked were, 
Or linen clothies had but mare." 

V. Miscellaneous Notices. 

To illustrate the mode of transport for persons and 
goods, and the style of living, which prevailed in the time 
of Henry the Fourth, we may read Shakspeare, who is 
true to the circumstances of the tunes. From the dis- 
course of the two carriers in the inn-yard at Rochester, 
we find that they were on horseback, with panniers ; 
that " the one had a gammon of bacon and two cases 
of ginger, to be delivered as far as Charing-cross ;" that 
^' the turkeys in the pannier of the other were quite 
starved ;" and that travellers of different quality and 
rank were in the habit of travelling in companies, for 
mutual protection. 

From other sources we learn, that, at this period, and 
for some time after, barley and beans formed the staple 
food of the people ; that, though wheat might be bought 
for six shillings and eight pence a quarter, just after har- 
vest, yet, owing to the improvidence of the consumers, 
and the want of corn-merchants, it became so scarce 
before the next harvest, that it was not unusual to pay 
eighty shillings the quarter ; that even convents, which 
we have been accustomed to associate with well-fed 
monks, who rioted in abundance, could afford their 
inmates, for long periods, nothing better than oatmeal 
and beans, and these with the greatest difficulty. We 
learn, that the corn was usually ground at home, in a 
quern, or handmill, and that, even a century ago, it was 
found impossible, on a certain occasion, t6 procure a 
32 s. A. 



374 APPENDIX. 

loaf of wheaten bread at any shop in one of the largest 
towns of the north of England, (Carhsle.) 

So with meat. The great proportion of the people 
had but httle, even in England ; in France, none, the 
French peasantry living on apples, water, and rye- 
bread. The gentry, during the long Winters, had rare- 
ly any thing better than salted meat and fish ; there 
being no provision, in the system of farming then prac- 
tised, for stall-feeding, and of course nothing, in fact, to 
answer to the masrnificent ideas which we have been 
accustomed to form of the roast beef of Old England. 
The roast beef of Old England was, in truth, a chine 
of salted beef boiled. This was the principal standing 
dish on the table of my lord and lady, morning, noon, 
and night ; it being surmounted by a loaf of bread, two 
manchets, a quart of beer, and a quart of wine. Coffee, 
which was not introduced into England till the seven- 
teenth century, was regarded with so much aversion by 
many good people, as to have been formally denounced, 
and that, too, in good set terms, from the pulpit. Many 
sermons seem to have been aimed, about this time, at 
coffee and tobacco, as equally pernicious and offensive. 
The following is an extract from one of them : '' They 
cannot wait till the smoke of the infernal regions sur- 
rounds them, but encompass themselves with smoke of 
their own accord, and drink poison, which God made 
black, that it might bear the devil's color." 

Another passage, from the letters of a cardinal, (Da- 
miani,) written about the eleventh century, will show 
what, in the estimation of the eminences of that day, 
was luxury. Writing to the Lady Blanche, once a 
petty Princess, who had entered a convent, and warn- 
ing her of the great danger of setting her heart on lux- 
urious living, he proceeds to tell her a story, which he 
had heard from a person of veracity. '' The Doge of 
Venice had married a lady of Constantinople, whose 
luxury," says he, '' surpassed all imagination. She 
would not even wash in common water, but had the 
cruelty to compel her servants to collect rain-water for 



MANUFACTURE OF AMERICAN IRON. 375 

her !" Her chamber was perfumed with aromatics, so 
many in number, that Damiani is quite ashamed to 
mention them, and no one would beUeve him if he did. 
But, what was most monstrous, this wicked creature 
would not eat with her fingers, but absolutely had her 
food cut into pieces, rather small, by her attendants, 
and then, — " she conveyed them to her mouth with cer- 
tain golden two-pronged forks." 

The ladies of that day do not seem to have confined 
their extravagance to the use of rain-water and forks ; 
in another respect, they provoked the displeasure of 
their ecclesiastical superiors ; and, in the hope that the 
indignant remonstrance of good Bishop Pilkington, one 
of the polemics of the time, may not be lost upon 
the fair of our own day, we quote one of his reproofs. 
It is directed against '' five-fingered rufflers, with their 
sables about their necks, corked slippers, trimmed bus- 
kins, and warm mittens." '' These tender Parnels," he 
says, '^ must have one gown for the day, another for 
the night ; one long, another short ; one for Winter, 
another for Summer ; one furred through, another but 
faced ; one for the work-day, another for the holyday ; 
one of this color, another of that ; one of cloth, another 
of silk or damask. Change of apparel, one afore din- 
ner, another after ; one of Spanish fashion, another of 
Turkey ; and, to be brief, never content with enough, 
but always devising new fashions and strange. Yea, a 
ruffian will have more in his ruff and his hose than he 
should spend in a year : he which ought to go in a rus- 
set coat spends as much on apparel, for him and his 
wife, as his father would have kept a good house with." 



376 APPENDIX. 



VII. Page 189. 

MANUFACTURE OF AMERICAN IRON. 

The following remarks of Nicholas Biddle, Esq., on 
the manufacture of American iron^ will be read with 
interest. 

I need not say that the two substances, which have 
most contributed to the comfort and civilization of the 
world, are coal and iron. The naturalists have asserted, 
that the chief ingredient of the richest precious stones is 
carbon ; and that, after all, a diamond and a coal are 
the same thing. The comparison disparages the coal, 
since certainly, for every purpose of human comfort or 
enjoyment, the coal outweighs all the gems that ever 
glistened at all the coronations of all the sovereigns of 
the earth. As to iron, is it not far more valuable than 
all the miscalled precious metals ? The best friend of 
man ; his companion in every stage of his civilization, 
from the rough ploughshare to the complicated steam- 
ship. These elements of wealth, the coal and the iron 
ores, were scattered profusely over this country, but 
some inexplicable mystery kept them asunder. The 
coal, in its fiercest intensity, could make no impression 
upon these impenetrable masses, and the adjoining hills 
which contained them frowned on each other, as up- 
on neighbors who could never be united. At length, 
by one of those happy inspirations which confound all 
reasonings, the whole obstacle was removed, in a way 
so simple, that every body wonders it was never dream- 
ed of till now. When these ores and coal were put 
together in a furnace, the fire was kept up by a stream 
of cold air. To this process the ores refused to yield. 
At last, a projector tried what impression he could make 
by a stream of hot air, and the ores instantly gave up 
their treasures, like the traveller in the fable, who only 
wrapped himself the closer at the cold wind, but could 
not resist the sunshine. And this, after all, is the great 



MANUFACTURE OF AMERICAN IRON. 377 

mystery, — the substitution of what is called the hot blast 
for the cold blast. 

Let us see the changes which this simple discovery 
is destined to make. As long as the iron ores and the 
coal of the anthracite region were incapable of fusion, 
the ores were entirely useless, and the coal nearly una- 
vailable for manufactures, while, as the disappearance 
of the timber made charcoal very expensive, the iron 
of Eastern Pennsylvania was comparatively small in 
quantity and high in price, and the defective commu- 
nications with the interior made its transportation very 
costly. The result was, that, with all the materials of 
supplying iron in our own hands, the country has been 
obliged to pay enormous sums to Europeans for this 
necessary. In two years, alone, 1836-7, the importa- 
tions of iron and steel amounted to upwards of twenty- 
four millions of dollars. The importations for the last 
five years have been about forty-nine millions of dollars. 
It is especially mortifying to see, that, even in Pennsyl- 
vania, there has been introduced, within the last seven 
years, exclusive of hardware and cutlery, nearly eighty 
thousand tons of iron ; and that, of these, there were 
about forty-nine thousand tons of rail-road iron, costing 
probably three millions and a half of dollars. Nay, at 
this very day, in visiting your mines, we see, at the 
furthest depths of these subterranean passages, the very 
coal and iron brought to the mouth of the mines on 
tracks of British iron, manufactured in Britain, and sent 
to us from a distance of three thousand miles. This 
dependence is deplorable. It ought to cease for ever ; 
and let us hope, that, with the new power this day ac- 
quired, we shall rescue ourselves, hereafter, from such a 
costly humiliation. We owe it to ourselves, not thus to 
throw away the bounties of Providence, which, in these 
very materials, have blessed us with profusion wholly 
unknown elsewhere. 

The United States contain, according to the best es- 
timates, not less than eighty thousand square miles of 
coal, which is about sixteen times as much as the coal 
32=* 



378 APPENDIX. 

measures of all Europe. A single one of these gigantic 
masses runs about nine hundred miles from Pennsylva- 
nia to Alabama, and must itself embrace fifty thousand 
square miles, equal to the whole surface of England 
proper. Confining ourselves to Pennsylvania alone, 
out of fifty-four counties of the State, no less than thir- 
ty have coal and iron in them. Out of the forty-four 
thousand square miles, which form the area of Penn- 
sylvania, there are ten thousand miles of coal and iron, 
while all Great Britain and Ireland have only two thous- 
and ; so that Pennsylvania has five times as much coal 
and iron as the country to which we annually pay eight 
or ten millions of dollars for iron. 

Again, the anthracite coal fields of Pennsylvania are 
six or eight times as large as those of South Wales, 
Of these great masses, it may be said, confidently, that 
the coal and the iron are at least as rich in quality, 
and as abundant in quantity, as those of Great Brit- 
ain, with this most material distinction in their favor, 
that they lie above the water level, and are easily ac- 
cessible, while many of the mines of England are a 
thousand or fifteen hundred feet below the surface. 

With these resources, you have abundant employ- 
ment, if you could only supply the present wants of the 
country, for which we are now dependent upon foreign- 
ers. But the sphere of demand is every day widen- 
ing, for the consumption of iron. The time has come, 
when nothing but iron roads will satisfy the impatience 
of travellers, and the competition of trade. The time 
is approaching, when iron ships will supplant these 
heavy, short-lived, and inflammable, structures of wood. 
We shall not long be content to cover our houses with 
strips of wood, under the name of shingles, prepared 
for the first spark, if we can have low-priced iron ; in 
which event, too, the present pavements of our towns 
would be superseded by footways of iron. 

The only difficulty which is suggested is the high 
price of labor in this country. Allow me to say, that 
I consider this a misapprehension. The high rate of 



MANUFACTURE OF AMERICAN IRON. 379 

wages is always put forward as the obstacle to any ef- 
fort to make for ourselves what we import ; but I do 
not believe that it ever made any serious obstacle in 
practice. I believe, on the contrary, that in any com- 
parison between the price of labor in England and the 
United States, if we consider, not the nominal price 
paid to the laborer, but the amount of work actually 
done for a given sum of money, and if we regard the 
English poor rates, which are only a disguised addition 
to the rate of wages, we shall arrive at the conclusion, 
that labor is yet very little, if at all, higher in the Uni- 
ted States than in England. I know that one of the 
most respectable and intelligent farmers among us, an 
Englishman, who, after farming in his own country, fin- 
ished his career a farmer in my neighborhood, declared, 
that, although he seemed to pay a higher rate of wages, 
yet, on the whole, the labor of his farm was done twen- 
ty per cent, cheaper in Philadelphia county, than it had 
been done in England. Since my arrival here, I have 
had occasion to compare the rates of wages given in 
our coUieries with those of England, and, although they 
are nominally somewhat higher, the difference would 
not materially affect large operations. 

Having, then, the material and the labor, it remains 
to ask, if you have the industry to follow out this new 
career. Need I ask that question, in such an active 
community as this ? Nay, you would not belong to 
this American nation, if you had a particle of sloth in 
you. Our manners, and habits, and customs, have been 
often described, but I venture to say, that no descrip- 
tion will approach the truth, unless it begins and ends 
with the declaration, that the Americans are the hard- 
est working people on the face of the earth. Other 
nations labor in order to live ; the Americans seem to 
live only to labor. To exist, and not to toil, is incom- 
prehensible. They cheerfully acquiesce in the doom of 
Providence, and, instead of repining at being condenmed 
to labor, they would deem the heaviest curse to be re- 
pose. Every man seems born with some steam-engine 



380 APPENDIX. 

within him, driving him into an incessant and restless 
activity of body and mind. All the amusements which 
require time ; the luxurious indulgences which con- 
sume it ; the absurdity of quiet ; the unnatural condi- 
tion of rest ; all these he scorns, as unworthy of men 
whose destiny it is to create, and to build up, and to 
found, works, and cities, and states. Here is a whole 
nation, with few rich men, and no idle men ; every 
head and every hand busy, with a thousand projects, 
and only one holyday, — the Fourth of July, — working 
from morning till night, with the most intense industry. 
Yet it is not merely a sordid spirit which impels them ; 
for what they earn thus hardly, they spend with a 
recklessness quite as characteristic. They work, not 
to accumulate, but because they must work, or die of 
apathy. Such a temperament is inseparable from many 
folhes, and leads to many vices ; but, after all, it is the 
true instinct to achieve great things, and whenever it 
becomes concentrated on some favorite object, wo to 
the rival whose path it crosses ! 

My hope, therefore, is, that when the country shall 
see what marvellous results will repay its industry, in 
their new career, it will enter upon it with its charac- 
teristic energy. If coal and iron have made Great Brit- 
ain what she is ; if they have given to her the power of 
four hundred milhons of men, and impelled the manu- 
factories which made us, like the rest of the world, her 
debtors ; why should not we, with at least equal advan- 
tages, make them the instruments of our own indepen- 
dence ? 

To begin that great work, no time would be more 
proper than the present. Nations seem subject to the 
same laws as individuals, and they must go through 
the same diseases which afflict infancy ; the same pas- 
sions which mislead youth ; the same infirmities which 
distress old age. It is, therefore, a subject rather of 
regret than surprise, that the last few years have been 
years of great national extravagance. We have bought 
far too much from foreign nations, and have indulged, 



I 



MANUFACTURE OF AMERICAN IRON. 381 

with a childish excess, in all the luxurious follies of 
the old world. Look only where this has led us. Dur- 
ing the last ten years, we have imported about one 
hundred and eighteen millions of dollars of silks, and 
more than forty-one millions of dollars of wines and 
spirits, making an aggregate of more than one hundred 
and fifty-nine millions, for articles of the merest luxury. 
If we had been able to barter for these the grain and 
the iron which are within our reach, we might have 
made our industry some apology for our extravagance. 
But, during the same time, the productions of our farms 
were rigorously excluded from Great Britain, and we 
imported more than eighty-four millions of dollars of 
iron. Here, then, are 

Payments for silks, of .... $118,000,000 

Wines and spirits, of 41,000,000 

And for iron, 84,000,000 

Making a sum, for necessaries and 

luxuries, of $243,000,000 

paid, in fact, for things which we should have supplied, 
ourselves, or have dispensed with altogether. And 
having done all this, we wonder that we are so much in 
debt ! Fortunately, too, if young nations have the er-r 
rors, they have the elastic spirit and resources, of youth ; 
and if we only cease the extravagant importation of 
luxuries, and cultivate our own resources, we shall soon 
recover from these temporary embarrassments. 

To no part of the Union will such a change be more 
beneficial than to our own Pennsylvania. With the 
zeal characteristic of our American temperament, she 
has gone too suddenly into great public improvements, 
beyond the immediate wants of the State. The neces- 
sity, too, of winning over to any general system the 
aid of particular portions of the State, has induced her 
to commence too many works at one time ; and, un- 
fortunately, she has too often had, as counsellors, the 
two most expensive advisers in all great enterprises, ig- 
norance and parsimony ; the one directing blindly, the 



382 APPENDIX. 



1 



other executing badly. I think it may be said, with- 
out reflecting harshly on errors, of which we must now 
all bear our share, that all the works executed for the 
developement of our Pennsylvania resources ought to 
have been made for two thirds of what they have ac- 
tually cost ; and that our debt, instead of thirty-two mil- 
lions, ought not, at this day, to have exceeded twenty- 
two millions. But there it is, and we have nothing to 
do but to pay it ; pay it, cheerfully and honestly ; by 
ordinary revenue, if we can, by taxes, if we must. Af- 
ter all, it is not worth while to despond over it. We 
owe thirty-two millions of dollars. Why, Great Brit- 
ain and Ireland are not three times as large as Penn- 
sylvania, and they owe four thousand millions of dol- 
lars. They pay it with coal and iron. Why may not 
we ? If Pennsylvania, now that she will soon cease to 
require laborers on her public works, were to apply 
herself to the resources of coal and iron, which she 
possesses above all her sister States, she will have her 
rail-roads and canals covered with these heavy burdens, 
increasing tenfold the income from her pubhc works, 
and a fresh tide of prosperity will set into the State, 
which will enable her citizens to carry her triumphant- 
ly through all her troubles. That she must and shall 
be so upheld, we all feel, since no reproach or degra- 
dation can come upon our Commonwealth, without in- 
volving all of us in a common shame. 



VIII. Page 216. 

ENGRAVING BY GALVANIC ELECTRICITY. 

In common copper-plate engraving, the lines which 
are to be copied by the ink on paper are cut into the 
surface of the metal. This circumstance renders nec- 
essary a peculiar mode of printing off the sheets, much 
slower and more expensive than printing with raised 



ENGRAVING BY GALVANIC ELECTRICITY. 383 

types, and so unlike it, that the two kinds can never be 
combined in the same impression. There are many 
cases in which such a combination is highly desirable, 
especially in the figures and drawings to illustrate such 
a work as this. To supply the place of them, much 
coarser engravings on wood, or metallic castings from 
such engravings, are used as substitutes. Recently, a 
method has been discovered of producing raised lines 
on the copper-plate, by a very ingenious application of 
galvanic electricity. 

The first publication on this subject appears to have 
been in a letter from Professor Jacobi, of St. Peters- 
burgh, to Mr. Faraday, of London, dated in June, 1839, 
and published in the London Philosophical Magazine, 
for September of that year. In the course of the same 
month, (September,) a pamphlet was published by Mr. 
Thomas Spencer, of Liverpool, in which he states that 
he had made the discovery as early as September, 1837, 
and had been engaged in a series of experiments to 
bring it to a useful state of improvement. Whether or 
not we concede to Mr. Spencer the right which he 
claims, and apparently with justice, of priority of dis- 
covery, it is evident that he had, at the time of pubhca- 
tion, advanced much further in producing useful practi- 
cal results than Professor Jacobi. Another paper by Mr. 
Spencer, giving some results of his further experience, 
is published in the London Athenaeum, for April, 1840. 
We have not seen Mr. Spencer's original pamphlet; 
but an extended extract, containing apparently nearly 
the whole of it, is contained in the London Mechanics' 
Magazine, for October, 1839. From this, and from Mr. 
Spencer's second paper, we have prepared the follow- 
ing abstract. 

To render the operation intelligible to those who are 
not familiar with the chemical effects of galvanism, it is 
necessary to premise a short explanation. All the me- 
tallic salts are made up of an oxide of the metal as its 
base, united with an acid. If the acid is withdrawn, 
by a stronger affinity, the metallic oxide is deposited ; 



384 APPENDIX. 

or, if both the acid and the oxygen are withdrawn, the 
metal is deposited in a pure state. The metalUc salts, 
as well as the other salts, are all capable of being thus 
decomposed by galvanic electricity ; and the metal is 
deposited upon the surface of the wire, or plate, which 
forms the medium of communication of the galvanic 
circuit. Thus, if a solution of sulphate of copper is 
brought under galvanic influence, all that part of the 
wire which is immersed in the solution will be coated 
over with a film of pure copper ; or, if a metallic plate 
be soldered to the wire, and immersed in the solution, 
the whole plate will be thus coated. In this case, it 
matters not whether the conducting metal be the same 
with that of the base of the salt in solution, or not. 

A very simple apparatus is sufficient to excite the 
galvanic action for the purpose of engraving. That 
used by Mr. Spencer is a little more complicated. It 
is as follows. Take an oblong vessel, or trough, of 
convenient size, of earthenware or wood. Into this fit 
a smaller vessel, of similar form, but so much more shal- 
low, as to allow a sufficient space for the copper plate 
and the solution in which it is placed, between the two 
vessels. The bottom of the inner vessel must be com- 
posed of some porous substance, suitable for the trans- 
mission of the galvanic action. Mr. Spencer at first used 
plaster of Paris ; but, in his late communication, he re- 
commends brown paper, as rendering the deposition of 
copper more rapid and more firm than any thing else that 
he had tried ; '' not the brown paper usually sold by 
the stationers, but a thicker sort, manufactured by the 
papermakers to enclose their parcels." This paper he 
fastens to the bottom of the vessel by melted pitch, or 
the common resinous cement used by philosophical-in- 
strument makers. It will be perceived, that we have, by 
this arrangement, a galvanic apparatus with two cells, 
differing from the common apparatus only in providing 
for a horizontal position of the plates in the cells, and 
at the same time preserving their parallelism ; the porous 
bottom of the interior vessel operating as a partition be- 



ENGRAVING BY GALVANIC ELECTRICITY. 385 

tween the cells. In the outer cell is placed the plate to 
be engraved, immersed in a saturated solution of sul- 
phate of copper ; and in the inner, a plate of zinc, of 
equal size, immersed in a solution of common salt, or of 
some acid. As it is not desirable that the action should 
be very rapid, Mr. Spencer prefers the salt. The com- 
munication is completed by means of a wire, soldered on 
the back of each plate, and brought over the edge of the 
cells. The contact of the wires should be made very 
perfect, by brightening them, and confining them to- 
gether with a binding screw. The plates are placed 
horizontally, the copper with the engraved surface up- 
wards, about five eighths or three fourths of an inch, 
and the zinc one eighth of an inch, distant from the 
brown-paper partition. For copying medals, and for 
small engravings, a very simple apparatus may be made 
by taking a common glass jar for an outer cell, and 
suspending in it vertically a large glass tube, a lamp- 
glass, for example, with a paper or plaster of Paris bot* 
tom for a partition."* Mr. Spencer attaches considera- 
ble importance to the horizontal position of the platen, 
Mr. Taylor, of London, in a paper in the Philosophical 
Magazine, for March, 1840, recommends a vertical po- 
sition, as possessing some positive advantages, besides 
being much more convenient. Any vessel divided into 
two parts by a proper partition would then answer all 
the purposes of a sufficient apparatus. But Mr. Spen- 
cer replies, that the vertical position has been found, by 
experience, to be a disadvantage. The deposition of 
metal at the lower end will greatly exceed that at the 
top, consequently rendering the plates very much thick- 
er at one end than the other ; which is to be avoided. 
To render this process available for the purpose of 
engraving, the following method is pursued. Take a 
plate of copper, such as is used by an engraver, solder 
a piece of copper wire to the back part of it, and then 
give it a coating of wax. Mr. Spencer, at one time, 

* A piece of bladder tied over the lower end of the tube is said to 
make an excellent partition. 

33 s. A. 



386 APPENDIX. 

recommended a cement for this purpose ; but in his 
later paper he says he finds that common beeswax, 
melted by heating the plate, entirely prevents deposi- 
tion on those parts to which it is applied ; while every 
thing else that he had tried allowed a partial deposition 
to take place. On the coating of wax write or draw, 
with a pencil or point, the design to be copied ; the 
wax must then be cut through, with a steel point or 
graver, taking special care that the copper is thoroughly 
exposed in every line. The shape of the graving tool 
should be such, that the lines made are not V-shaped, 
but as nearly as possible with parallel sides. The plate 
should next be immersed in diluted nitric acid, — say 
three parts water to one part acid. It will at once be 
seen whether it is strong enough, by the green color of 
the solution, and the bubbles of nitrous gas evolved from 
the copper. Let the plate remain in it long enough for 
the exposed lines to become slightly corroded, that the 
wax, which gets into the pores of the copper during the 
heating process, may be thoroughly removed. The plate 
must then be washed in water, and, thus prepared, is 
placed in the solution of sulphate of copper in the trough 
described above, and a plate of zinc, of equal size, is 
placed in the other cell, and the metalhc communica- 
tion completed by means of the wires. The apparatus 
is then left for several days. If it can be kept at a tem- 
perature of eighty or ninety degrees, the process is ac- 
celerated. This, Mr. Spencer says, is much better than 
q\iickening it by the addition of the salt or acid used to 
excite the positive cell. 

As the wax defends the plate, except in the lines 
from which it has been removed, it is obvious, that the 
precipitated copper, instead of being spread over the 
whole plate, as in the former case, is deposited only in 
those lines. Unless these lines be perfectly clean, the 
deposited copper will not adhere with any force, but is 
easily detached when the wax is removed. Another 
cause of imperfect adhesion, pointed out by Mr. Spen- 
cer, is the presence of a minute portion of some other 



ENGRAVING BY GALVANIC ELECTRICITY. 387 

metal, such as lead, which, by being precipitated before 
the copper, forms a thin film, which prevents the adhe- 
sion of the subsequently-deposited copper. The sur- 
face of the copper in the lines will be found to be more 
or less rough, according to the quickness of the action. 
To remedy this, rub the surface with a piece of smooth 
flag or pumice stone, with water. Then heat the plate, 
and wash off the wax-ground with spirits of turpentine 
and a brush. The plate is now ready to be printed 
from at an ordinary press. 

The length of time necessary to complete the pro- 
cess must depend on the degree of elevation. To 
obtain the thickness of an eighth or tenth of an inch 
will require eight or ten days, at the ordinary tempera- 
ture. For common printing, a much less height than 
this will answer. Crystals of sulphate of copper should 
be added, from time to time, to the cupreous solu- 
tion ; but, should the deposition require to be thick, and 
long continued, it will be necessary to take out the cu- 
preous solution once or twice, during the operation, and 
add an entirely fresh one. 

Another method of obtaining an engraved copper- 
plate, with raised lines, is to cut the lines in a plate of 
soft metal, as lead, or type-metal, and place this plate 
in the coppery solution, in the galvanic circuit. The 
copper will be deposited on the whole surface, filling 
the lines, and thus producing corresponding elevations in 
its own surface. If lead or type-metal is used for this 
purpose, the copper is easily separated from it when 
the process is completed, by applying the heat of a 
spirit lamp. In other cases, a too strong adhesion may 
be prevented by heating the plate, before it is immersed 
in the solution, and covering it with wax, and then 
wiping off the wax as cleanly as possible. Enough will 
remain to prevent a permanent chemical union of the 
two metals, but not enough to prevent the deposition 
of the copper. 

Copper plates, engraved in the common manner, that 
is, with depressed lines, may easily be copied by the 



388 APPENDIX. 

galvanic process, and the number of copies multiplied, 
to any desirable extent. Procure an equal sized piece 
of sheet lead, (clean and bright, as it comes from the 
roller,) lay it on the engraved side of the plate, and put 
both under a very powerful press ; when taken out, 
the lead will have every line in relief that had been 
sunk in the copper. A wood-engraving may be opera- 
ted on in the same manner. The lead plate should be 
encased in a box, before being placed in the galvanic 
apparatus. 

It will readily occur to a man of inventive turn of 
mind, that the method of precipitating metals, by 
means of galvanic electricity, must be applicable to a 
great variety of purposes in the arts. The various proc- 
esses, of coating metallic surfaces with the finer met- 
als, as silvering, gilding, &c., would seem to be capable 
of great improvement in this way, although we are not 
aware that any attempts have as yet been made with 
it. Iron, in machinery where it is particularly exposed, 
may, by the same process, be covered with a coating 
of copper, so as to preserve it from rusting. But our 
concern, at present, is chiefly with the different modes 
of copying. Mr. Spencer has applied it to copying 
medals, with entire success, having produced perfect 
copies in copper, exhibiting all the lines, and especially 
the letters, of the original, with great distinctness and 
sharpness, as if struck by a die. We have seen some 
beautiful copies of medals procured by this process, by 
Mr. Dixon, whose transfer process we have already 
mentioned on page 228 of this Volume. 

There are two methods of doing this. In the first, 
the medal to be copied is placed in the solution of 
sulphate of copper, in the galvanic circuit. Copper 
is deposited upon its surface, forming a perfect facsim- 
ile, reversed^ thus constituting a mould, in which, by a 
repetition of the process, an exact counterpart to the 
original is produced. In this operation means must be 
taken to prevent the adhesion of the precipitated cop- 
per. This may be done, as has been before intimated, 



ENGRAVING BY GALVANIC ELECTRICITY. 389 

by a deposition, in the first place, of a slight film of 
lead, or other metal. Or it may be effected, more 
conveniently, by heating the medal, and rubbing a 
small portion of wax over it. This is then wiped off, 
a sufficient quantity always remaining to prevent adhe- 
sion. 

The other method is still more expeditious. Two 
pieces of clean, milled, sheet lead are taken, and the 
medal, being placed between them., the whole is sub- 
jected to pressure in a screw press, and a complete 
mould of both sides, is thus formed in the lead, show- 
ing the most delicate lines, perfect, (in reverse.) Twen- 
ty or even a hundred of these may be so formed on a 
sheet of lead, and the copper deposited by the galvanic 
process, with the greatest faciHty. Those portions of 
the surface of the lead which are between the moulds 
may be covered with wax, to protect them from the 
copper, or the whole sheet may be covered with the 
deposition, and the medals afterwards cut out. 

Neither of these operations will form but one side of 
the medal. Mr. Spencer has succeeded in copying 
entire medals, so as to make a perfect facsimile of the 
original. But the process is more complicated and del- 
icate ; and as he is making improvements in it, he has 
not described it. Copies of the most ancient and rare 
coins and medals may, by these means, be multiplied 
at will, so that we may say of this process, as has been 
said of Mr. Dixon's method of copying ancient prints 
and manuscripts, that the value from scarceness seems 
to be almost annihilated by it. 

Mr. Spencer has succeeded, also, to some extent, in 
procuring a deposition of copper on moulds of clay, 
or plaster of Paris ; and it seems not improbable that 
we shall ere long be able to copy the entire human 
bust in copper, upon the clay model of the sculptor. 
The art is at present in its earliest infancy ; and it can- 
not be doubted that great and important improvements 
will be made in it. 

Mr. Spencer concludes his last paper, as follows: 
33* 



390 APPENDIX. 

"I am now occupied in some experiments, which may 
terminate in still greater improvements in the economi- 
cal use of this principle. While I write I have before 
me a small, electro-magnetic, rotary machine, in rapid 
motion. In connexion with it, there is a helix, or 
coil, of covered copper wire, consisting of two lengths, 
each four hundred feet, the thicker one transmitting the 
primary current, the smaller one the induced current. 
In connexion with one end of the primary wire, I have 
placed a copper plate to be copied. To the opposite 
end of the same wire I have connected a spiral coil of 
copper ivire, which is immersed in a porous cell, con- 
taining diluted sulphuric acid, with a few drops of ni- 
tric acid, the plate to be copied being immersed in 
sulphate of copper. The electric action, excited by 
this arrangement, being sufficient to revolve the mag- 
netic machine, lohile at the same time it is depositing 
pure copper on the plate to be copied, in one cell, and 
producing sulphate of copper, by the dissolution of 
the copper wire, in the other. To each end of the 
smaller wire transmitting the induced current, I have 
also attached a similar arrangement ; namely, a plate 
to be copied, and a piece of spiral wire, in a pair of 
separate cells. This arrangement is also depositing 
copper on the plate to be copied. My object in this 
was, to take advantage of the increased amount of elec- 
tric action always acquired by transmitting the current 
through spiral coils, and also to avail myself of the in- 
duced current which is always eliminated in an opposite 
direction to the primary. This latter current is gener- 
ated at absolutely no expenditure of material. For the 
mere purpose of depositing copper, I might have used 
the helix without the rotary magnet ; but my object was 
to ascertain the practicability of employing the electric- 
ity, generated by the process, for other uses. From 
this experiment, I can give my opinion, without hesita- 
tion, that, should electro-magnetic machines be brought 
into practical use, of which I entertain no doubt, the 
same battery that excites them into action, on the one 



ANCIENT RATE OF TRAVELLING. 391 

hand, will, on the other, copy engravings, ad infini- 
tum. For, after all we have heard lately of voltaic 
batteries of intense power, sustaining ones, slow but 
equable, are the only apparatus that can be depended 
on for an indefinite length of time. I have not yet 
made experiments with the helix, in sufficient number, 
to justify me in stating, for the present, the increase of 
deposition that may be derived from its use. I intend 
trying a number of statical experiments, with coils of 
different thickness, and also coils of flat copper rolled 
up in the form of a riband, covered with silk. The re- 
sults of these may form the subject of another commu- 
nication." 



IX. Page 240. 

ANCIENT RATE OF TRAVELLING. 

Let us here take a slight retrospective glance at the 
road-communication of Britain. 

In 1678, the first coach was started from Edinburgh 
to Glasgow, a distance of forty-four miles, which dis- 
tance was accomplished, to and from, in six days.^ At 
the present period, four hours and a half is all the time 
required to travel, by coach, from one city to the other. 

In 1706, the conveyance from London to York was 
by a stagecoach, which was advertised to perform '' the 
whole journey in four days."f This is now accom- 
pUshed in twenty-four hours. 

*In 1678, Mr. William Hume, merchant, of Edinburgh, contracted 
with the magistrates of Glasgow, that he *' should have in readiness 
a sufficient strong coach, to run between Edinburgh and Glasgow, to 
be drawn by six able horses, to leave Glasgow ilk Monday morning, 
and return ilk Saturday night, God willing." 

t Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, (if God permit,) it sets 
forth, *' at fiv3 in the morning, and returns from York to Stamford 
in two days ; and from Stamford by Huntington to London, in two 
days more, and the like stages on their return." 



392 APPENDIX. 

In 1712, we find, by an advertisement* in the New* 
castle Courant, that the stagecoach conveyed passen- 
gers between London and Edinburgh, by means of 
" eighty able horses," in thirteen days without any stop- 
pages. But according to McCulloch's Dictionary, there 
was only one coach in the year 1768, which set out 
once a month, taking from ten to twelve days to per- 
form the journey. Other routes were equally tedious.f 

"In 1760," says a writer in Pinnock's 'Guide to 
Knowledge,' '^ when it was necessary for a journey to 
be taken from Brighton to the metropolis, (a distance, 
then, of about sixty miles,) the travellers, after break- 
fasting, dining, and supping, on the road, were, by great 
exertion, able to get as far as East-Grinstead, (about 
thirty miles,) where they stayed all night ; and by per- 
severing, in the same manner, the following day, were 
enabled to reach London, at night, making the extraor- 
dinary journey of sixty miles in two days. These were 
the ' good old times.' Things are now strangely alter- 
ed, and we are extravagant enough to perform the same 
journey (now reduced to fifty-two miles) in five hours, 
and sometimes less." — See Gordon^ on Locomotion, 

The first stagecoach estabhshed in America was in 
1784, between Boston and New York. The journey 
between the two cities was accomplished in four days. 

* ** Edinburgh, Berwick, Newcastle, Durham, York, and London, 
stagecoach begins on Monday, the thirteenth of October, 1712. 
All that desire to pass from Edinburgh to London, or from London 
to Edinburgh, or any place on that road, let them repair to Mr. John 
Baillie's, at the Coach and Horses, at the Head of Canongate, Edin- 
burgh, every other Saturday, or to the Black Swan, in Holborn, 
London, every other Monday ; at both which places, they may be 
received into a stagecoach, which performs the whole journey in 
thirteen days, without any stoppages, (if God permit,) having eighty 
able horses to perform the whole stage. Each passenger paying four 
pounds ten shillings for the whole journey, allowing each passenger 
twenty pounds weight, and all above to pay six pence a pound. The 
coach sets out at six o'clock in the morning. Performed by Hen. 
Harrison, Robert Yorke, Richd. Speight, Richard Croft.'* 

t '* A new, fast coach, hung on steel springs, with four horses and 
two postillions, sets out from the Greyhound Inn, Market-place, Bath, 
and the George Inn, Drury Lane, London, every Monday, Wednesday, 



INFLUENCE OF IMPROVEMENTS, ETC, 393 

X. Page 241. 

INFLUENCE OF IMPROVEMENTS ON HUMAN WELFARE. 

^' It is a favorite phrase/' says an eloquent country- 
man of ours, '^ of those v^ho boast of what is called the 
' march of intellect,' that things are thus changed, [he 
refers to the growing distaste for war,] because the 
'schoolmaster is abroad.' But I tell you that some- 
thing far more effective than the schoolmaster, — a 
mightier than Solomon, — is abroad. It is the steam- 
engine, in its twofold capacity of a means of production 
and the means of transport ; the most powerful instru- 
ment, by far, of pacification and commerce, and there- 
fore of improvement and happiness, that the world has 
ever seen : which, while it increases capital, and multi- 
plies, beyond all imagination, the products of industry, 
brings the most distant people into contact with one 
another ; breaks down the barriers which exclusive leg- 
islation would oppose to the freedom of mercantile ex- 
changes ; effaces all peculiarities of national character ; 
and promises, at no distant period, to make the whole 
Christian world, at least, one great family." 

And again, speaking of the cultivation of cotton, he 
says, and says truly, '^ Whoever shall write the politi- 
cal history of that invaluable plant, will have a more 
important work to perform than has ever fallen to the 
lot of a biographer of statesmen or philosophers. I 
will venture to say, without going more into details, 
that the single circumstance of bringing the wonderful- 
ly cheap fabrics produced by modern machinery within 
the reach of even the humblest of the laboring classes, 
of substituting decent and comfortable raiment for the 
few scanty and filthy rags, the squalid exterior, which 
makes poverty not only more painful, but at once more 

and Friday, at seven o'clock in the morning, and arrives at the above 
inns on the following days, at four in the evening. The coach stops 
all night at Andover, going and coming." — JVewspaper, 1765. 



3SA APPENDIX. 



I 



humiliating and degrading, to its victim, and more dis- 
gustful to others, than it ought to be, will signally con- 
tribute to elevate the condition of the poor in the social 
scale ; to raise their self-esteem, and to increase the 
sympathy of others for them ; in a word, to make them 
feel themselves men, entitled to a place among men ; not 
pariahs and outcasts, whose contact is contamination, 
A people well clad and well housed will be sure to pro- 
vide themselves with all the other comforts of life ; and 
it is the diffusion of these comforts, and the growing taste 
for them, among all classes ; it is the desire of riches, as 
it is commonly called ; that is gradually putting an end 
to the destructive and bloody game of war, and reserving 
all the resources hitherto wasted by it, for enterprises 
of industry and commerce, prosecuted with the fiery 
spirit which once vented itself in scenes of peril and 
carnage." 

'^ And how is the face of Europe changing by means 
of such enterprises ? I have travelled in parts of the 
Continent which the spirit of gain, w^ith its usual con- 
comitants, industry and improvement, has invaded since 
the peace, at an interval of fifteen years ; and been 
struck with the revolution that is going on. There is 
a singularly beautiful, though rather barren, tract of 
country, between Liege and Spa, where, in 1819, my 
attention had been principally attracted by the striking 
features of a mountainous region, with here and there 
a ruin of the feudal past, and here and there the hovel 
of some poor hind,— the very haunt of the ' wild-boar 
of the Ardennes' in the good old times of the House 
of Burgundy. I returned to it, in 1835, and saw it 
covered with mills and factories, begrimmed with the 
smoke and soot of steam-engines ; its romantic beauty 
deformed, its silvan solitudes disturbed and desecrated 
by the sounds of active industry and the busy hum of 
men. I asked, what had brought about so great a 
change, and found the author of it, — a man having a 
more numerous band of retainers and dependents than 
any baron bold of the fourteenth century, and in every 



ANCIENT AND MODERN PHILOSOPHY COMPARED. 395 

respect more important than many of the sovereign 
princes on the other side of the Rhine, — was an Eng- 
lish manufacturer, who had established himself there 
some twenty years ago, without much capital, and had 
eftected all this by his industry and enterprise." — 
Speech of H. S.Legare, in Congress, 1837. 



XI. Page 251. 

ANCIENT AND MODERN PHILOSOPHY COMPARED. 

The end which the great Lord Bacon proposed to 
himself was the multiplying of human enjoyments and 
the mitigating of human sufferings. The ancient phi- 
losophy disdained to be useful, and was content to be 
stationary. It dealt largely in theories of moral per- 
fection, which were so sublime, that they never could 
be more than theories; in attempts to solve insoluble 
enigmas, in exhortations to the attainment of unattain- 
able frames of mind. It could not condescend to the 
humbla office of ministering to the comfort of human 
beings. All the schools regarded that office as degrad- 
ing, some censured it as immoral. Once, indeed, Po- 
sidonius, a distinguished writer of the age of Cicero and 
Caesar, so far forgot himself, as to enumerate among the 
humbler blessings which mankind owed to philosophy, 
the discovery of the principle of the arch, and the in- 
troduction of the use of metals. This eulogy was con- 
sidered as an affront, and was taken up with proper 
spirit. Seneca vehemently disclaims these insulting 
compliments. Philosophy, according to him, has noth- 
ing to do with teaching men to rear arched roofs over 
their heads.* ^' The true philosopher docs not care 
whether he has an arched roof, or any roof. Philoso- 
phy has nothing to do with teaching men the uses of 
metals. She teaches us to be independent of all ma- 

* Seneca, Epidtle 90. 



396 APPENDIX. 

terial substances, of all mechanical contrivances." He 
labors to clear Democritus from the disgraceful imputa- 
tion of having made the first arch, and Anacharsis from 
the charge of having contrived the potters' w^heel. The 
business of these philosophers was to declaim in praise 
of poverty, with two millions sterling out at usury ; to 
meditate epigrammatic conceits about the evils of luxu- 
ry, in gardens which moved the envy of sovereigns ; to 
rant about liberty, while fawning on the insolent and 
pampered freedman of a tyrant ; to celebrate the divine 
beauty of virtue with the same pen which had just 
before written a defence of the murder of a mother by 
a son. From the cant of this philosophy, a philosophy 
meanly proud of its own unprofitableness, it is delight- 
ful to turn to the lessons of the great English teacher. 
The philosophy which he taught was essentially new. 
Its object was the good of mankind, in the sense in 
which the mass of mankind always have understood, 
and always will understand, the word good. The aim 
of the Platonic philosophy was to exalt man into a god. 
The aim of the Baconian philosophy was to provide man 
with what he requires, while he continues to be a man. 
The aim of the Platonic philosophy was to raise us far 
above vulgar wants. The aim of the Baconian philos- 
ophy was to supply our vulgar wants. The former 
aim was noble ; but the latter was attainable. Ask the 
follower of Bacon, what the new philosophy, as it was 
called in the time of Charles the Second, has effected 
for mankind, and his answer is ready. It has length- 
ened life ; it has mitigated pain ; it has extinguished 
diseases ; it has increased the fertility of the soil ; it has 
given new securities to the mariner ; it has furnished 
new arms to the warrior ; it has spanned great rivers 
and estuaries with bridges, of form unknown to our 
fathers ; it has guided the thunderbolt innocuously from 
heaven to earth ; it has lighted up the night with the 
splendor of the day ; it has extended the range of the 
human vision ; it has multiplied the power of the human 
muscles ; it has accelerated motion ; it has annihilated 



TECHNOLOGICAL INSTRUCTION. 397 

distance ; it has facilitated intercourse, correspondence, 
all friendly offices, all despatch of business ; it has ena- 
bled man to descend to the depths of the sea ; to soar 
into the air, to penetrate securely into the noxious re- 
cesses of the earth, to traverse the land on cars which 
whirl along without horses, and the ocean in ships 
which sail against the wind. These are but a part of 
its fruits, and of its first fruit. For it is a philosophy 
which never rests, which has never attained, which is 
never perfect. Its law is progress. A point, which was 
yesterday invisible, is its goal to-day, and will be its 
starting-post to-morrow. — Edinburgh Review. 



XII. Page 292. 

TECHNOLOGICAL INSTRUCTION. 

Among the most effectual means of developing man- 
ufacturing skill and enterprise in a country are, legisla- 
tive protection, associations for the encouragement of 
the arts, public exhibitions and repositories, and tech- 
nological instruction. It was our intention to have 
entered into some details, with respect to each of these, 
but our hmits forbid. Omitting, therefore, any further 
reference to the first three, which are beginning to be 
appreciated among us, we pass to the /oi^r^A, which has 
hitherto received scarcely any attention in the United 
States, but is perhaps superior in importance, at this 
time, to either of the others. 

By technological instruction, we mean the systematic 
instruction of the young in the theory and economy 
of the useful arts. To some extent, this instruction 
ought to be made general, and should therefore be 
introduced into our elementary schools and colleges. 
What is more particularly wanted, however, is special 
instruction for those who are inte;ided for industrious 
pursuits. Of these, there are, of course, two classes : 
34 s. A. 



398 APPENDIX, 

one, having some capital and the means of taking a 
thorough course of instruction, and who contemplate 
becoming proprietors or superintendents of manufac- 
tories, or engineers ; the other contemplate beginning 
as operatives, and advancing, by degrees, to a higher 
station. For both of these, a more thorough preparato- 
ry training is necessary, as it respects the science of their 
business. 

It is necessary, on the simple principle that knowl- 
edge is power. Under the strong stimulus of circum- 
stances, our people contrive to acquire vast dexterity in 
v^hatever they undertake. It is none the less certain, 
however, that with more thorough and systematic train- 
ing, this dexterity might be increased and made more 
general, at the same time that it would be applied with 
more steadiness and forecast. Our enterprise is now 
somewhat too impulsive. Undertakings of great prom- 
ise, and involvmg great expense, terminate disastrously, 
because not commenced with sufficient deliberation ; or 
because intrusted, for their execution, to incompetent 
agents and operatives. The effect of a well-digested sys- 
tem of technological instruction, if it become extensive, 
would be to provide a ready stock of ability and skill, 
which might at any time be made available for such 
undertakings. More capital, too, would be invested in 
the arts and in manufactures, if the capitalists could 
find agents, and had more confidence in their ability. 

Another effect of such instruction would be, to elevate 
the character and sentiments of the pupils, and thus in- 
spire them with the desire of excelling in their respec- 
tive pursuits. 

A young country, like ours, especially if its industry 
is not protected by the government, can build up its 
own arts only by superior native skill. It must have 
artisans, superintendents, &c., of its own, seeking em- 
ployment, who are able to fabricate the best articles at 
the cheapest rate. This is peculiarly necessary among 
us, at this time. In respect to geographical position, 
facilities for obtaining the raw materials, freedom from 



TECHNOLOGICAL INSTRUCTION. 399 

taxation, and general activity and intelligence among 
the people, we are more advantageously situated for 
manufacturing than the countries of Europe. But they 
have more capital, more science, and cheaper labor ; 
and they are now busily engaged in acquiring more 
skill. This may be regarded as the distinguishing 
feature of European industry, especially of continental 
industry, at this time. Tired of dependence on Eng- 
land for all the articles needed in home consumption, 
France and Germany are now laboring to develope their 
own arts, through the medium of education. Though 
they have judiciously regulated their tariff for this pur- 
pose, and Prussia, in order to insure success, has aban- 
doned her pohcy of free trade, as it respects England, 
and resorted to an admirable system of protecting du- 
ties, yet they seem to rely greatly on the superior skill 
which they are aiming to develope by instruction. 

For this purpose, professorships of technology have 
been established in the universities, in connexion with 
repositories or museums for instruments, products, ma- 
terials, &c. ; and text-books, and other instruction con- 
nected with the arts, have been introduced into the 
gymnasia and inferior schools. 

In addition to these, institutions specially devoted 
to the training of those intended for industrious pur- 
suits are rising in all parts of Germany, Austria, and 
France. Some of them, hke the school of arts and 
manufactures at Paris, the institute of arts at Berlin^ 
and the polytechnic institute at Vienna^ teach the ele- 
mentary learning of all the arts, in connexion with other 
branches, useful for those who are not intended for 
the learned professions. The following branches are 
usually taught, in addition to the languages, which may 
be omitted : namely, chemistry and its applications, 
physics and their applications, elementary and higher 
mathematics and their applications, mechanics and 
their applications, civil and hydi^aulic architecture, 
drawing, modelling, &fc. Tliesc institutions are de- 
signed, of course, for those intended for engineers, su- 



400 APPENDIX. 

perintendents, &c. They are supported^ for the most 
part, by government. 

There are also agricultural, or rural, schools, in Switz- 
erland, Ireland, &c., which are usually designed for the 
poor, who will devote themselves to agriculture. The 
instruction is confined to the inferior branches, and is 
connected with manual labor in the field. The cele- 
brated institution of Fellenberg, at Hoffwyl, is of a high- 
er character. 

Special schools of arts, mines, and manufactures, are 
also established, which give ample courses of instruction 
in elementary learning, with a particular reference, how- 
ever, to some one art or class of arts. Of this nature, 
is the polytechnic school of Paris, w^hich educates those 
who are intended for military service, civil engineering, 
&c. ; the school of roads, bridges, and mines, in France, 
the school of mines, in Saxony, the industrial school of 
Lyons, in France, connected more especially with the 
silk m.anufacture, &c. &c. &c. 

Theoretical instruction is combined, more or less, in 
these schools, with practice. The student goes through 
the manipulations in chemistry, modelling, drawing, 
&c., and also (in Germany, not in France) in the par- 
ticular art of trade for which he is destined. Much 
diflSculty has been experienced, however, in conducting 
the latter branch of instruction. Experience, in Ger- 
many, seems to have taught, that, in the case of some 
arts, (such as masonry, carpentry, joinery, &c.,) the 
manual and theoretical parts cannot be combined, and 
hence young men, intended for these, are, in some 
schools, required to have served an apprenticeship at 
their trade before entering. In other arts, (such as dye- 
ing, glass-cutting, carving, engraving, machine-making, 
&c. &c.) a certain portion of time is given to practice, 
either in workshops belonging to the establishments, in 
large manufactories in the vicinity, or in smaller shops, 
occupied by mechanics, in the town, who, in consid- 
eration of being allowed to attend lectures, &c., will 
teach the pupils for a few hours, weekly, the use of 



NOTE ON THE COTTON MANUFACTURE. 401 

tools, the operations, &c. Of these three methods, 
the last is probably the best, as involving less expense, 
and yielding more real instruction, than the first, and 
securing a greater variety of practice and instruction, 
than the second. 

The only institution of this kind, known to us, in the 
United States, is the Rensselaer Institute at Troy, New 
York, founded, and for many years sustained, by the 
late Stephen Van Rensselaer, of Albany. 



NOTE ON THE COTTON MANUFACTURE. 

Since the preceding pages were in type, we have 
received a highly interesting work by Mr. James Mont- 
gomery, superintendent of the York Factories, in Saco, 
Maine, and published in Glasgow, Scotland, on the 
Cotton Manufacture of the United States, contrasted 
and compared with that of Great Britain. We have 
not room, in the short space allowed for this Note, for 
even a summary of the very important facts presented 
in this volume. We might otherwise have drawn from 
it many striking illustrations of the principle which it 
has been our object to enforce, — the connexion of sci- 
ence and intelligence with improvement in the arts,— 
especially in reference to the condition of the manu- 
factures in this Country, and the prospects which await 
them on the expiration of legislative protection. The 
comparative expense of manufacturing cotton in this 
Country and Great Britain is exhibited in detail, with a 
description of the machinery and processes that are 
peculiar to either country, and their cost in each. From 
this comparison, it appears that nothing but a high de- 
gree of skill can hereafter enable our manufacturers to 
compete, successfully, with their more experienced rivals 
abroad. The cost of buildings and machinery, and 
the expense of working the cotton, is considerably less 
there than here. This, however, is somewhat more 
34* 



402 APPENDIX. 



1 



than counterbalanced by the diminished cost of the 
raw material to the American manufacturer. But it 
may well be doubted, whether this difference will be 
sufficient to protect any manufactories, but such as are 
managed with that high degree of skill which adequate 
knowledge alone can impart. The immense amount 
of the interests involved renders this a question of vast 
consequence to our whole community, and the accu- 
mulation of facts here presented has a very important 
bearing upon it. It were foreign to our purpose, even 
if we had room, to speak of the value of the details in 
this volume, to the manufacturer himself, in conducting 
his operations, although we conceive it must be of great 
advantage to him, by enabling him to compare his own 
processes and their results, with those of others, both 
in our own Country and Great Britain. 

Mr. Montgomery says, that the preliminary processes 
of assorting and preparing the cotton, and the picking 
and spinning, are better done, — that is, with more care, 
and with better machinery, and therefore more perfect- 
ly, — in Great Britain, than in America ; but that the 
weaving is quite as well done here, as there. If this 
observation is well founded, there must be ample scope 
among us for the exercise of ingenuity and skill, until 
the improvement in one department shall be at least 
equal to that in the other ; and until a reduction shall 
be effected of the cost of manufacturing, which is now 
nineteen per cent, greater here than it is in Great 
Britain. 



GLOSSARY 



OF WORDS AND PHRASES NOT EASILY TO BE UNDERSTOOD 
BY THE YOUNG READER. 

[Many names of persons and places, terms of art, &c., which oc- 
cur in this Volume, will be found explained in one of the passages 
where they occur. For these, see Index.] 

Ahusion, abuse, impropriety. 

Ad infinitum, to infinity. 

Adze^ or Addice, a tool of the axe kind, used by coopers and carpenters 
for cutting thin chips from timber, having its blade thin and arch- 
ing, and its edge at right angles with the handle. 

Aeriform, having the form or nature of air. 

Agincourt, a village in France, celebrated for a battle, fought October 
25, 1415, between the French and English, in which the latter, 
commanded by King Henry V., were victorious, though the French 
^ army was seven times more numerous than the English, and the 
latter, destitute of almost every thing, and reduced by sickness, had, 
before the battle, requested peace on disadvantageous terms. The 
French lost twenty-four thousand men, the English sixteen hundred. 

Albumen, a substance found in living bodies, which coagulates, or 
becomes hard, by heat. White of egg is an example. 

Alchymists, the professors of Alchymy, an art which originated in 
Arabia, in the fourth century, and was afterwards much cultivated 
in Europe. It had for its object the transmutation or change of 
other metals into gold, and the power of curing all diseases, and 
renewing and prolonging life. This was to be effected, as they 
supposed, by a substance of which they were in search, and which 
they called the elixir of life, or, the philosopher's stone. Though en- 
gaged in what is now known to have been a visionary object, they 
rendered great service to science, and particularly to chemistry ; 
many really valuable discoveries having been made by them, while 
in the fruitless pursuit of the imaginary ' philosopher's stone.' 

Alcuin, (Flaccus Alcuinus, or Albinus,) an English scholar, the most 
learned and polished man of his time. He was born A. D. 732, and 
died A. D. 804. He was Abbot of Canterbury, but in 782, on the 
invitation of Charlemagne, (or Charles the Great,) he went to 
France, where he became the instructer and confidential adviser 
of that monarch, and continued to be so till A. D. 801. He estab- 
lished various schools, and labored to diffuse through Europe a 
knowledge of the sciences. He left numerous works in theology 
and philosophy, which were published in 1617, and again, in a more 
complete edition, in 1777. The Academies of Tours, Paris, and 
many others, were either founded, enlarged, enriched, or instructed, 
by him, or through his influence with Charlemagne. 

Alkali, (plural alkalies,) a substance that has the property of com- 
bining with, and neutralizing the properties of, acids, producing salts 
by the combination. Alkalies change most of the vegetable blues 



404 GLOSSARY. 

and purples to green, red to purple, and yellow to brown. Caustic 
alkali^ an alkali deprived of all impurities, being thereby rendered 
more caustic and violent in its operation. This term is usually 
applied to pure potash. Fixed alkali^ an alkali that emits no char- 
acteristic smell, and cannot be volatilized or evaporated without 
§reat difficulty. Potash and soda are called the fixed alkalies, 
oda is also called a fossil, or mineral alkali, and potash, the 
vegetable alkali. Volatile alkali, an elastic, transparent, colorless, 
and consequently invisible gas, known by the name of ammonia, 
or ammonical gas. 

Ammonia, see the preceding article. 

Anacharsis, a Sc3'^thian philosopher, who flourished about B. C. 582. 
He was brother to the King, Saulus, and went to Athens, on an em- 
bassy, in the time of Solon, by whom he was much esteemed. He 
was admitted by the Athenians to the honor of citizenship, being 
the only stranger upon whom that honor was ever conferred. On 
his return to Scythia, he attempted to change the customs of his 
country, and introduce the civilization and worship of Greece ; but 
he was slain by the king, before he was enabled to put his design 
in execution. He was esteemed one of the seven wise men of 
Greece. 

Anderson, (James, LL.D.,) a celebrated Scotch agriculturist and 
author, who was born near Edinburgh, A. D. 1739, and died Oct. 15, 
1808. At an early age, perceiving the importance of a scientific 
acquaintance with agriculture, he entered upon the study of chem- 
istry, and pursued, at the same time, several other branches of 
useful knowledge. He published many valuable works on agri- 
culture and other subjects, among which, was a ' Correspondence 
with General Washington.' 

Anglo-Saxon, an appellation given to the language spoken by the 
English Saxons, or inhabitants of England in the latter part of the 
fifth century, (A. D. 450, and after.) The name England is derived 
from the Angles, a tribe who settled there about A. D. 440. They 
formerly inhabited ancient Germany, as did also the Saxons, who 
came over to England about the same time. 

Anthracite, one of the most valuable kinds of mineral coal. It is very 
abundant in the United States. 

Appert's process, a method of preserving articles of food from decay, 
brought into notice by M. Appert, in a work published by order of 
the French Minister of the Interior, and entitled, ^ The Art of pre- 
serving all Kinds of Animal and Vegetable Substances for several 
Years.' 

Arai, or araie, array, pomp, splendor, show. 

Archil, (or archilla, called also rocella, and orsielle,) a whitish moss, 
which grows upon rocks in the Canary and Cape de Verde Islands, 
and yields an extremely beautiful and rich purple tincture. When 
prepared for dyeing, it is called litmus, or lacmus. 

Archimedes, the most celebrated among the ancient geometricians, 
born at Syracuse, in Sicily, about two hundred and eighty-seven 
years before the birth of our Saviour. He was the inventor of sev- 
eral of the most important mechanical powers, such as the com- 
pound pulley, the endless screw, &c. ; and is reported to have said, 
he would move tbe world, if he could find a fulcrum, or point, 
without it, on which he could stand and place his lever. He is also 
said to have constructed lenses or burning glasses, of such great 



GLOSSARY. 405 

power, that he set on fire with them the ships of the Roman fleet, 
which was hesieging Syracuse. Hiero, King of Syracuse, suspect- 
ing that an artist had added some common metal to a crown, which 
he had directed to be made of pure gold, requested Archimedes to 
ascertain the fact. He discovered the method of solving the ques- 
tion, while he was in the bath, as mentioned in this volume, page 67. 

Aristotle^ a distinguished Grecian philosopher, born three hundred 
and eighty-four years before Christ, at Stagira, in Macedonia ; 
whence he is sometimes called ' the Stagirite.' 

Arkioright, (Sir Richard,) inventor of the spinning-jenny, who was 
born Dec. 23, 1732, and died in 1792. For a further account of 
him, see the second volume of ' Pursuit of Knowledge under Diffi- 
culties,' forming Vol. xv. of 'The School Library,' Larger 
Series. 

Artesian well, a cylindrical perforation, bored vertically into the earth, 
through one or more of the geological strata, till it passes into a 
porous gravelly bed, containing water under sufficient incumbent 
pressure to force it to the surface, or to a height convenient for the 
operation of a pump. For a full notice of such wells, see Bigelow's 
* Useful Arts,' Vol. ii., forming the twelfth volume of the Larger 
Series of * The School Library.' 

The Mhenian hero, (on page 247,) see Themistocles. 

Augustine, or Austin, St., see St. Augustine. 

Automatic, mechanical, not voluntary, not depending on the will. 

Azote, see Nitrogen. 

Bahhage, (Charles,) a distinguished English writer and mathematician, 
Professor of Mathematics in the University of Cambridge, author 
of the ' Economy of Machinery and Manufactures,' and other val- 
uable works. 

Bacon, (Francis, Lord Verulam,) Lord High Chancellor of England, 
was born A. D. 1561, and died A. D. 1626. He was a profound 
scholar in the whole circle of the sciences, and is to be regarded as 
one of the most remarkable men of any age. He advocated, with 
great eloquence and learning, the reforming of philosophy, by 
founding it on the observation of Nature, though he is not, perhaps, 
to be regarded as the first who made this great step towards the 
advancement of science. 

Bacon, (Roger,) an English monk of the thirteenth century, distin- 
guished for his discoveries in chemistry and natural philosophy. 
For an account of him, see the second volume of ' Pursuit of 
Knowledge under Difficulties,' being volume xv. of * The School 
Library,' Larger Series. 

Baker s ^ Chronicle of the Kings of England,' a work written by Sir 
Richard Baker, who was born in the county of Kent, in England, 
about A. D. 1568, and died Feb. 18, 1644-5. 

Bakewell, (Robert,) an Enorlish grazier, who was born at Dishley, in 
' Leicestershire, A. D. 1726, and died in 1795. He obtained great 
celebrity by his strenuous effi^rts to improve the breed of cattle ; in 
effi^cting which object, he travelled over England, Ireland, and Hol- 
land. 

Bannockhurn, battle of, a sanguinary engagement, which took place 
near the village of 13annockburn, in Scotland, on the River Ban- 
nock, between the English and Scottish armies, June 24, 1314, in 
which the English were defeated. The contending armies were 
commanded by the Sovereigns of England and Scotland, Edward IL 



406 GLOSSARY. 

and Robert Bruce ; and the issue of the battle decided the question 
of the liberty of Scotland. 
Barilla, the ashes of certain marine plants. 
Barlie, barley. 

Batoon, or batten, (called also a lay,) that part of a weaving loom, in 
which the reed is placed, and which, moving backwards and for- 
wards, presses the crossing threads, or weft, close together, after 
each passage of the shuttle through the warp. 
Battering-ram, an ancient military engine, consisting of a long and 
heavy wooden beam with an iron end shaped like a ram's head, 
suspended from a frame of timber, and employed for battering 
down walls. 
Beaters, in a cotton-cleaning machine, are projections on a revolving 
cylinder, by which the cotton is struck with great velocity and 
force as it passes into the machine, and is thus loosened and pre- 
pared for carding. 
Becket, Thomas a, a celebrated Roman Catholic prelate, who was born 
in London, A. D. 1119, was made Archbishop of Canterbury, in 
1162, and was killed, December 22, 1170. He was a haughty and 
imperious prelate, yet after his death he was canonized, or called a 
saint, and many miracles were said to have been wrought at his 
tomb. 
Beckmann, (John Anthony,) an ingenious and learned scholar, a 
native of Hoye, in Hanover, who in 17C7 became Professor of 
Physic in the University of Gottingen, where he died in 1811. He 
wrote many works ; one of which, a ' History of Discoveries and 
Inventions,' has been translated into English. 
Bergmann, (^Torbern Olof,) a Swedish natural philosopher, physician, 
and chemist, who was born March 9, 1735, and died in 1784, ex- 
hausted by his exertions in the cause of science. He w^as Professor 
of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, and also of Chemistry, at 
the University of Upsal, and was a member of most of the learned 
Societies of Europe. He made many discoveries in science, and 
published many learned works. 
Bevil, or bevel, an instrument composed of two straight edges or 
blades, connected at one end as a centre, and movable, so as to 
form any desired angle. 
Bin, a box or place parted off for the reception of corn, bread, or any 

other article in bulk. 
Bismuth, a brittle metal, of a reddish white color, very fusible, requir- 
ing but little heat to melt it. 
Bitartrate, a compound, having two proportions of tartaric acid. 
Black, (Dr. Joseph,) a very celebrated modern chemist, who was born 
of British parents, at Bordeaux, in France, A. D. 1728, and died 
in Edinburgh, November 26, 1799, in the seventy-first year of his 
age. 
Black drop, a preparation of opium and acetic acid, or vinegar. 
Blast, the introduction of air, either hot or cold, into a furnace, to pro- 
mote combustion. 
Bloom, the blue color upon plums and grapes newly gathered. 
Boors, uncivilized peasants. 

Bossvt, (Charles,) nn eminent French mathematician, who was born 
at Lyons, in 1730, and died in 1814. He was author of several 
valuable works on Mathematics. 
Bowing, a process in the preparation of furs for making hats. It is 



GLOSSARY, 407 

performed with a bow made of a pole seven or eight feet in length, 
to which are fixed two bridges somewhat like those of a violin, and 
ove^r which is stretched a catgut. The bow is held horizontally 
among the fur, when the string is stretched and sprung ; the 
elasticity of the string scatters the fur, and by repeated strokes 
opens and separates the filaments, till it is all in a fit condition for 
felting, or making into felt, the substance of which the bodies of 
hats are generally composed. 

Boyle, (Robert,) a celebrated natural philosopher, who was born at 
Lismore, in Ireland, January 26, 1627, and died at London in 169L 
For a further notice of him, see ' Pursuit of Knowledge under Diffi- 
culties,' Vol. ii., forming the fifteenth volume of the Larger Series 
of 'The School Library.' 

Bramah, (Joseph,) a very ingenious English engineer and mechani- 
cian, who was born in Yorkshire, April 13, 1749, and died near 
London, December 9, 1814. He distinguished himself by his in- 
ventions, particularly by his locks> and his hydraulic press, and for 
his improvements in fire engines. 

Brantome, (so called, from an Abbey which he possessed, but whose 
real name was Pierre de Bourdeilles,) a French courtier of the reigns 
of Charles IX. and Henry III., who was born A. D. 1527, and died 
in 1614. He wrote several works; and his memoirs of his contem- 
poraries form fifteen volumes. 

Brassica, the generic name for the cabbage, and plants of that family. 

Brenning, burning. Brenning of wild-fire, highly-seasoned. 

Briareariy having many hands ; from Briareus, a fabled giant, who is 
said to have had one hundred hands and fifty heads. 

Broccoli, a species of cabbage. 

Brunell, (M. J.,) a skilful and enterprising English engineer, who 
projected, and is still (1840) superintending, the construction of a 
tunnel or passage under the River Thames, from one side to the other. 

Burleigh, (William Cecil,) Lord, a celebrated English statesman, 
who was born in 1520, and died in 1598. He was characterized as 
" the oldest, the gravest, and the greatest statesman in Christen- 
dom." He was Secretary of State to Queen Elizabeth. 

Busked, adorned, decorated, prepared, made ready. 

Cadmium, a metal of a light whitish color, resembling tin, but some- 
what harder and more tenacious. It was discovered in 1817, by 
Professor Stromeyer. 

Ccesar, (Caius Julius,) a very distinguished Roman general, emperor, 
statesman, and historian, who was born B. C. 100. He is said to 
have been victorious in five hundred battles, and wrote Commen- 
taries on the wars in which he was engaged, on the spot where his 
battles were fought. He was assassinated at Rome, March 15, 
B. C. 44. Cassar was also the family name of the first five Roman 
emperors, and the surname given to the next seven ; and became,, 
subsequently^ the Gecond,and finally the third, title of dignity under 
the emperors 

Calamine, carbonate of zinc. 

Cam, (from the French came, a lift,) a wheel, the axis of which is not sit- 
uated in its centre, and the object of which is to produce an eccen- 
tric, or alternate, motion, in any part exposed to its action. 

Campan, Madame, (Jeanne Louise Henriette,) a French lady, who 
was born at Paris, October 6, 1752, and died March 10, 1822. She 
was attached to the family of Marie Antoinette, wife of Louis XVI., 



408 GLOSSARY. 

King of France ; and was afterwards principal of a school founded 
by the Emperor Napoleon, for the daughters of some of his officers. 
She wrote Memoirs of the Private Life of the Queen, with Recol- 
lections of Louis XIV., XV., and XVL, and other works. 

Caoutchouc^ elastic gum, or India rubber. 

Caoutchoucine, a liquid obtained from caoutchouc, by distillation. 

Capon, a kind of poultry. 

Carbonate, a compound, or salt, containing carbonic acid. Carbonate 
of ammonia, a compound of carbonic acid and ammonia. 

Carbonic acid, a gas composed of carbon and oxygen. It has lately 
been obtained in a solid form. 

Caseous, resembling cheese. 

Castelledj surrounded or adorned with turrets and battlements, like a 
castle. 

Cato, (Marcus Porcius,) the Roman farmer, called also the Censor, 
from his having exercised that office, was born at Tusculum, B. C. 
232. He cultivated a small farm with his own hands, and died in 
an extreme old age, about B. C. 147. He composed many works, 
only one of which, a treatise on Husbandry, now remains. 

Cementation, a chemical process, by which the character of a metal 
is changed, as iron into steel, copper into brass. Glass is also 
changed into porcelam, by cementation. 

Cenire-bit, an instrument turning on a centre, used by carpenters, 
cabinet-makers, &c., for making circular holes. 

Certes, certainly. 

Champagne, a particular kind of wine, originally made in Cham- 
pagne, in France. 

Chaptal, (Jean Antoine Claude,) Count of Chanteloup, and Peer of 
France, a distinguished physician, chemist, and author, who was 
born A. D. 1756, and devoted himself to the study of medicine 
and the natural sciences. He was author of many valuable works, 
on national industry, chemistry, the cultivation of the vine, chem- 
istry applied to the arts and agriculture, &c. &c. 

Charing'Cross, a large open triangular space in London, fronting on 
some of the principal streets. A large marble cross formerly stood 
in the centre of it, which was erected by King Edward I., and de- 
stroyed by the Republicans in 1643. A statue of Charles I. on horse- 
back, in brass, was erected upon the same spot, on the restoration 
of Charles II. 

Charles 11., King of England and Scotland, born in 1630, was the 
son of Charles I. He became King, May 29, 1660, and died Feb- 
ruary, 1685. He was a licentious and immoral prince. 

Chaucer^ (Geoffrey,) one of the greatest, as well as most ancient of 
the English poets, born in London, A. D. 1328, and died October 
24, 1400. He is considered the '* father of English poetry." 

Chaunge, change. 

Chloride, a compound of chlorine and some other substance. 

Chlorine, a simple substance, formerly called oxy muriatic acid. In 
its pure state, it is a gas, and, like oxygen, supports the combustion 
of some inflammable substances. 

Chromate, a compound of chromic acid with some other substance. 

Chrome, or Chromium, a brittle metal, of a yellowish white color. 

Chromic acid, an acid of which chromium is the basis. 

Cicero, (Marcus Tullius,) the most distinguished writer and orator of 
Rome, who was born B. C. 106, and died December 7, B. C. 43. 



GLOSSARY. 409 

Citric acid, the acid obtained from the juice of lemons or limes. 

Clepe, to call. Cleped, called. 

Cloaca maxima, a large subterranean passage or street, constructed 
under ground by the Romans, for the purpose of purifying their 
city, and draining off the filth, &c., from the houses and streets. 

Clutch, a projecting tooth on a wheel or other piece of machinery, 
intended to connect two or more parts of a machine moved by 
the same power, so that one can be stopped while the other is in 
motion. 

Coagulum, that which has the power of coagulating, or making hard. 

Cobalt, a brittle metal, of a reddish gray color, and weak metallic 
lustre. 

Cocoa-nut lard, the oil of the cocoa-nut, in a state of lard. 

Coke, (Thomas William,) now Earl of Leicester, a celebrated English 
agriculturist, who was born about A. D. 1748. He was made Earl 
of Leicester by Queen Victoria. 

Commissariat, the body of officers providing provisions for an army. 

Cop, the conical ball of thread wound on the spindle of a spinning 
frame, whence it is reeled, or transferred to bobbins. 

Cotes, (old Scotch,) coats. 

Coyfe, a coif or headdress, a lady's cap. 

Dale, day. 

Dagswaine, a rough, coarse mantle. 

Damiani, (Peter,) a cardinal of the Romish Church,who died A.D. 1073. 

Data, admitted truths. 

Davy, (Sir Humphrey.) one of the most distinguished chemists of the 
age, who was born in Cornwall, England, A. D. 1779, and died in 
1829. See 'Pursuit of Knowledge under Difficulties,' Vol. ii., 
forming the fifteenth volume of ' The School Library,' Larger 
Series. 

Decolorant, a substance which extracts color. 

Decoloration, an extraction of the color from any substance. 

Decrees, French, decrees passed by the French government, in 1807, 
prohibiting the trading of neutral vessels to any port of Great Brit- 
ain, with whom France was then at war. See Orders in Council. 

Democritus, a celebrated philosopher of Abdera, a city of Thrace, 
who was born about B. C. 470, and died about B. C. 361. 

Disintegrating, separating into particles. 

Domesday (or doomsday) book, a very ancient record, made A. D.' 
1081 to 1086, containing a survey of nearly all the estates inEngland. 

Donned, put on, invested with. 

Ductor, (Latin,) a guide, leader, or conveyor. 

East. The countries in Asia, being east of Europe, are generally 
spoken of as the East, or Piastern or Oriental World. 

Eddystone lighthouse, a lighthouse built on some ridges of rocks in 

. the English Channel, where the ocean swell is very tremendous. 
The foundation of the lighthouse is one entire solid mass of stones 
to the height of thirty feet. These stones are engrafted into each 
other, and united by every means of additional strength. The 
whole height is about eighty feet. The first lighthouse here was 
erected in 1696, but it was destroyed by a storm in 1703. Another 
was built in 1709, and wns destroyed in 1755. A third was erected 
in 1759, and withstood all the rage of the weather, till 1830, when 
it was found necessary to rebuild it. 

Eden, (Sir Frederic Morton,) an English statesman, and statistical 

35 s. A. 



410 GLOSS ART, 

writer, who died in London, November 14, 1809. He was ambas- 
sador to Berlin, Vienna, and Madrid, and author of several works. 

Edward II. ^ l^hig of England, son of Edward I., was born A. D. 
1284, and died September 21, 1327. He commanded the English 
army at the battle of Bannockburn. 

Edward III.^ King of England, son of the preceding, was born A. D, 
1313, proclaimed King at the age of fourteen, and died June 21, 1377. 

Electro-rnagnetic^ pertaining to the science of electro-magnetism ^ 
which shows the connection of electricity and magnetism. 

Elements, Euclid'^, see Euclid. 

Elixir of life, see Alchymist. 

Elizabeth, Queen of England, and one of its most celebrated" Sover- 
eigns, was daughter of Henry Vlll. and born A. D. 1533. She 
was proclaimed Queen in 1558, and died March 24, 1603. 

English Money is calculated in pounds, (marked £.,) shillings, pence, 
and farthings. There are also guineas and crowns. 
A pound contains 20 shillings, and is now worth about 4 dollars 87 cents. 
" shilling " 12" pence,- *«• " 24| " 

" ])enny " 4 farthings, " " 2 " 

" farthing is warth about ..,►..► ^ 5 " 

*' guinea is worth about 5 dollars 7 cents. A crown, about 1 dollar 15 cents.. 

Epsom-salts., sulphate of magnesia. It was first procured from the 
springs of Epsom, in England, whence its name. It is now pro- 
cured from sea water. See page 42. 

Erasmus, (Desiderius,) a celebrated scholar, who was born in Rotter- 
dam, October 28, 1467, and died July 12, 1536. 

Etruscan^ belonging to Etruria, (now Tuscany,) a region of ancient 
Italy, on the Mediterranean, north of the Tiber. The inhabit- 
ants were remarkable for their skill in the useful and elegant arts. 

Euclid, a celebrated mathematician, who was born in Alexandria, in 
Egypt, about B. C. 280. He distinguished himself by his writings 
on Music and Geometry ; and his ' Elements of Geometry ' is in 
use at the present day. 

Fac simile, an exact copy. 

Fahrenheit, (Gabriel Daniel,) a celebrated natural philosopher, who 
was born at Dantzic, A. D. 1686. He made great improvements in 
the thermometer; and his name is sometimes used for that instru- 
ment. 

Falstaff, (Sir John,) a celebrated character in Shakspeare's Drama of 
Henry IV. 

Felspar, or Feldspar, a constituent part of numerous rocks. Its lus- 
tre is shining, and its colors white, gray, yellowish, and reddish 
white. It decays readily, and forms soil, and also porcelain earth. 

Fellenherg, (Emanuel de,) a celebrated and benevolent individual^ 
who established a school at Hofwyl, in Switzerland, for the instruc- 
tion of young persons in the theory and practice of agriculture. 

To Felt, to unite without weaving ; to make felt, or the substance of 
which the bodies of hats are generally composed. 

Festcs, feasts. 

Flcsche, flesh. 

Fletcher, (Andrew,) a Scottish political writer and patriot, who wa&- 
born at Saltoun, Scotland, A. D. 1653, and died in London, in 1716. 

Flocculent, resembling locks of wool, down, or cotton. 

Flock-bed, a bed filled with locks of wool, or pieces of cloth cut up 
very fine. 

Fluorspar^ or fluate of lime, lime combined with fluoric acid, a beau.- 



GLOSSARY. 411 

tlful brittle mineral, of different colors, sometimes transparent, 
and generally occurring in a beautifully crystallized state. The most 
elegant is found at Derbyshire, in England, where it is wrought 
into vases, candlesticks, and other ornaments ; and is thence called 
Derbyshire spar. 

Flyers^ forked pieces of iron attached to the spindles of a spinning 
frame, the object of which is to receive the thread, twist it, and 
convey it to the bobbin on which it is wound. 

Formulae, plural of formula, a prescribed form. 

Fortescue, (Sir John,) an eminent English Judge and writer on the 
law, who flourished in the reign of Henry VI. and Edward IV. 
He was made Chief Justice of the Court of King's Bench, A. D. 
1442, and wrote many valuable works. He died about A. D. 1465. 

Fra, from. 

Franc, a French silver coin, worth about eighteen and a half cents. 

Franklin^ (Benjamin,) a celebrated philosopher, patriot, and states- 
man, who was born January 17, 1706, in Boston, and died in Phil- 
ade^lphia, April 17, 1790, at the age of eighty-four. His life will be 
given in one of the volumes of ' The School Library.' 

Free cities, cities enjoying an independent government, subject to no 
person or state, and each forming an independent republic. 

Frontal, belonging to, or at, the front. 

Fulcrum^ the point of support on which a lever rests. See page 90. 

Fulton, (Robert,) an eminent engineer and mechanist, to whom the 
world is indebted for the first successful application of steam-power 
to navigation. For his biography, see the fourth volume of ' The 
School Library,' Larger Series. 

Galen, (Claudius,) one of the most celebrated physicians of ancient 
times, who was born at Fergamus, in Asia Minor, A. D. 131, and 
died about A. D. 200. He is said to have written seven hundred 
and fifty works, only a part of which have been preserved. 

-Galileo (Galilei,) a celebrated astronomer, mathematician, and natural 
philosopher, who was born at Florence, (or, as some say, at Pisa.) 
a city of Tuscany, in Italy, February 19, 1564, and died January 8, 
3642, in the seventy-eighth year of his age. See ^Pursuit of 
Knowledge under Difficulties,' forming volumes xiv. and xv. of 
'The School Library,' Larger Series. 

Galvanic, relating to Galvanism, a branch of the science of electrici- 
ty, first discovered by Galvani, a professor of Bologna, whence its 
name. The electricity is developed by a chemical action which 
takes place between certain bodies, such as plates of different 
metals, separated by moist pieces of cloth or an acid mixture. See 
Volta. 

Gastric, relating to the stomach. Gastric juice, the fluid which dis- 
solves the food in the stomach. 

Geologist, one skilled in geology, or the science which treats of the 
rocks and other substances of which the earth is composed. 

George (Augustus) //., King of Great Britain, son of George I. He 
was born A. D. 1683, ascended the throne in 1727, and died Octo- 
ber 25, 1760. 

Girdel, a girdle. 

Girdler, one who makes girdles. 

Gin, a machine for raising great weights ; also a machine for cleang- 
ing cotton from the seed. See page 145. 

Glitt&rande, glittering, shining, sparkling. 



412 GLOSSARY, 

Gluten^ glue ; that part of the blood which gives firmness to its tex- 
ture ; also, a tenacious, ductile substance, procured from most kinds 
of grain, as wheat, by repeated washings of the flour in large quan- 
tities of water, which dissolves the fecula or starch, and leaves the 
gluten behind. It is the most nutritious part of vegetables. 

Gothic, a style of architecture principally used in churches, and which 
is sometimes called the ecclesiastical style. Its principle seems to 
have originated in the imitation of groves and bowers of trees, un- 
der which the ancients performed their sacred rites. It is charac- 
terized by pointed arches, pinnacles and spires, clustered pillars, 
&c. See the first volume of Bigelow's ' Useful Arts,' forming the 
eleventh volume of ' The School Library.' 

Gracieless, graceless, abandoned, wicked, without ekgance. 

Greene, (Nathaniel,) one of the major-generals in the American 
army, during the Revolutionary War, and born in Warwick, Rhode 
Island, A. D. 1742. He was the son of a blacksmith, and indebted 
to his own exertions for his education. His life is to be read in the 
history of the American Revolution. He was remarkable for per- 
sonal courage, resolute firmness of mind, prudence, and judgement. 
He died at the age of forty -four, June 19, 1786. 

Grete, great. 

Grist, supply, quantity. 

Guericke, Otto, the most celebrated mathematician and philosopher of 
his time. He was born at Magdeburg, in Saxony, A. D. 1602, and 
died at Hamburg, when on a visit to that city, in 1686. 

Guizot, (F.) a distinguished French statesman and writer, who was 
born at Nismes, October 4, 1787. He studied law at Paris, and 
published several works before he attained his twenty-fifth year. 
He engaged in public affairs, and in 1832 became a member of 
the French cabinet, and afterwards prime minister. 

Gymnasium, (plural gymnasia,) a school for exercises, adapted to de- 
velope the powers of the body, and preserve them in perfection. 
The name is from the Greek yvurog, (gijmnos, naked,) and in the 
ancient gymnasia at Sparta, the young men engaged naked in the 
exercises, which consisted in leaping, running, wrestling, &c. 

Gypsum, or sulphate of lime, a mineral of great importance. One 
form of it is alabaster, employed, from its whiteness and beauty, 
for statuary and ornaments; another is plaster of Paris, employed 
for the fine plastering in the finishing of walls and ceilings, and of 
great use as a manure for land. 

Hannibal, a celebrated general of Carthage, in Africa, who was born 
B. C. 243, and died B. C. 183. 

Harrison, (William,) an English historian, who died A. D. 1593. He 
was author of ' An Historical Description of the Island of Britaine, 
in Three Books,' prefixed to the * Chronicles ' of Holingshed. 

Harte, (Walter,) an English divine, poet, and historian, who was born 
about A. D. 1715, and died in 1773. He published several works; 
among them, * Essays on Husbandry.' 

Heather, heath, a beautiful low shrubby plant, admired on account of 
its lasting verdure, light foliage, and the elegance of its flowers. It 
is of the genus Erica. 

Heckling, or hatchelling, beating of flax, separating, tearing asunder. 

Hed, had, took, or went; also, the head. 

Henry, (Robert,) author of a History of England, in five volumes. He 
was born near Stirling, in Scotland, A. D. 1718, and died in 1790. 



OLOSSARY. 413 

Henry III., King of England, was born A. D. 1207, succeeded his 
father, John, in 1216, being only nine years old, and died in 1272. 
He was a weak prince, and unfit for his high station. 

Henry F., King of England, was born A. D. 1388, and succeeded his 
father, Henry IV., in 1413. He defeated the French at the battle of 
Agincourt, (which see,) and died in 1422. 

Henry VII., King of England, born A. D. 1457, and proclaimed King 
on the battle field of Bosworth, where he had defeated the usurper, 
Richard HI., in 1485. His reign was beneficial to his country, 
and he died much beloved, in 1509. 

Henry VUI., King of England, was born in 1491, and succeeded his 
father, Henry VIL, in 1509. He was a well-educated prince, but 
his reign was arbitrary and tyrannical. He began the Reformation, 
in England, by throwing off the usurpations of the Church of Rome. 
He died January 28, 1547. 

Hermhstcedt, (Sigismund Frederic,) a celebrated German chemist and 
writer, who was born at Erfurt, April 14, 1760. 

Hermetically, chemically ; a glass tube or other vessel is said to he 
sealed hermetically, when the neck is heated till it be ready to melt, 
and then twisted, so as to prevent the entrance of a particle of air. 

Herschel, (Sir William,) an eminent astronomer, remarkable for his 
unwearied devotion to observations of the heavens, for the con- 
struction of large and powerful telescopes, and for his discovery 
of the planet which has received his name. He was born in 1738, 
and died in 1822. His son, John F. W. Herschel, is also an able 
and distinguished astronomer. 

Hesiod, a celebrated poet, born at Ascra, in Bceotia, a province of 
Greece, about nine hundred years before Christ. He was the first 
who wrote a poem on agriculture, and is admired for the elegance 
of his diction, and the sweetness of his poetry. 

Hie, high ; to make haste ; to hasten. 

Hiero, a king of Syracuse, the friend and patron of Archimedes. He 
died about B. C. 225, in the ninety-fourth year of his age, univer- 
sally regretted ; and the Sicilians showed, by their lamentations, 
that they had lost a common father and friend. See Archimedes. 

Hirtiless, heartless, spiritless, without courage. 

Holingshed, (Raphael.) an English historian, who died about A. D. 
1582. His ' Chronicles,' first published in 1577, in two volumes, 
folio, have been much celebrated. 

Homer, a celebrated Greek poet, who is supposed to have flourished 
between eight hundred and one thousand years before Christ. But 
little satisfactory is known respecting him. 

Hookc, (Robert,) an eminent English philosopher and mathematician, 
who was born at Freshwater, in the Isle of Wight, in 1635, and 
died in 1702. His writings are numerous and valuable. 
.Hopharlots, a rough, coarse cloth, like that of which are made the 
bags in which hops are packed. 

Hoivell, (William, LL.D.,) an English historical writer, who died in 
1688. He was author of a ' History of the World,' and other works. 

Huddart, (Joseph,) an eminent navigator and hydrographer, who was 
born A. D. 1741, and died in 18J6. The loss of his cables in a 
tempest during one of his voyages, led him to seek a remedy against 
similar accidents, and he invented a kind of rope which has since 
been used in the British navy. 

Hume, (David,) a celebrated philosopher and historian, who was born 

35* 



414 GLOSSARY. 

at Edinburgh, in 1711, and died August 25, 1776. He published 
' Essays,' which are strongly tinctured with infidelity, and a ' His- 
tory of England,' which has been much celebrated, but is in many 
respects unfaithful, unfair, and partial ; and leans towards princi- 
ples utterly subversive of all good government. 

Huygeiis, (Christian,) a very celebrated Dutch mathematician and 
astronomer, who was born at the Hague, in 16*29, and died in 1695. 

Hydraulic, relating to the motion or force of water. Hydraulic press, 
a machine in which the force of water is employed, for the purpose 
of obtaining an immense pressure. For a description of this press, 
(also called the Hydrostatic press,) see page 64. 

Ilk, each, every. 

Inquisition, a tribunal, or court, in some Roman Catholic countries, 
for the suppression of heresies. It was at one time very powerful. 
It conducted all its investigations in secret, employing the most 
cruel tortures to compel its victims to confess the crimes with 
which they were charged. 

Iodine, a simple substance, of a grayish black color, and metallic lus- 
tre, having a violet-colored vapor. It is obtained from marine plants. 

Ivory Hack, or animal charcoal, the dust or shavings of ivory burnt 
in close vessels and reduced to powder. 

Jacquard, a peculiar and ingenious mechanism invented by M. Jac- 
quart, of Lyons, in France, to be adapted to a silk or muslin loom, 
for the purpose of superseding the employment of children for 
drawing the cords in weaving figured goods. 

Japanned, varnished in a particular manner, called japanning. 

Julius CcBsar, see Ccesar. 

Karnes, (Henry Home,) Lord, a celebrated Scotch nobleman and judge, 
who was born in 1696, and died December 27, 1782. He was author 
of many valuable works, among which were ' Essays on Criticism,* 
'Art of Thinking,' ' The Gentlem&n Farmer,' and other valuable 
agricultural papers. 

Kelp, the ashes of sea weed. 

Kidderminster carpets, a particular kind of carpeting, first manufac- 
tured at Kidderminster, a market town of England. 

King-post, the chief beam under the roof of a house. 

KirtU'S, gowns, women's upper garments. 

Knyghton, (Henry,) an English historian, who flourished in the fif- 
teenth century. He was author of a ' History of English Affairs,'' 
an ' Account of the Deposition of Richard II.' &c. 

Lac, an inflammable gummy substance produced by an insect called 
Coccus Lacca, and found on several trees in the East Indies. It 
is used in the manufacture of sealing wax, varnishes, «fec. 

Lavoisier, (Anthony Laurence,) a celebrated French chemist, who 
was born in 1743. His philosophical researches were very exten- 
sive and important to science. He was put to death as mentioned 
on page 117. 

Laws of Kature, the laws or mode by which the Deity is pleased to 
act, in relation to the works of Nature. 

Leicester, (Robert Dudley,) Earl of, the favorite of Queen Elizabeth, 
of England, was born in 1532, and died in September, 1588. 

Leicester, Earl of, see Coke, 

Lichen, a species of moss. 

Lirripipe, or Liripoop, a kind of hood, or covering for the head. 

Littdlf little. 



GLOSSARY. 415 

Lond, land. 

LongbierdSj long beards. 

Long dung J green or coarse manure, of which straw forms a part. 

McAdam roads^ roads constructed of hard stones broken into small 
pieces and spread upon the ground, in time becoming perfectly 
solid. The name is derived from the introducer of the system. 

McCulloch, (John Robert,) one of the most talented British writers on 
political economy, ^fcc, who was born in Scotland about 1788. He 
has within a few years been appointed Professor of Political Econ- 
omy at the London University. 

Madder, a dye stuff, which, by the use of different mordants, (or 
substances used to fix the colors,) may be made to produce every 
shade of red, purple, and even black. 

Magnesia, a kind of earth, light and white, with alkaline proper- 
ties. 

Malic acid, acid of apples. 

Maner, kind, sort. 

Manganese, a brittle metal, of a dull whitish color, extremely difficult 
to melt, of great use in chemistry and the arts. 

Manipulations, operations by hand. 

Marchauntes, merchants. 

Mare, more. But mare, nothing more. 

Mariner's compass, an instrument for the guidance of mariners, in 
steering their course on the ocean. It was invented in the four- 
teenth century, previous to which time, the mariner's only guides 
were the heavenly bodies ; and in cloudy weather he had nothing 
to direct his course. Consequently he dared not venture far from 
the land. 

Maximum, the largest number or quantity, or highest point. 

Meal, a part or portion, a measure of food, or any thing else. 

Metes, meats. 

Mica, an elastic substance, which, when obtained in thin layers, is 
transparent, and used for lanterns, and sometimes for windows. It 
is often called isinglass. 

Mineralized, converted into a mineral substance. 

Miner alogical, relating to mineralogy. 

Minimum, the smallest number or quantity, or lowest point. 

Minus, less. 

Minutice, the smallest particulars. 

Moryson, (Fines,) an English writer, who was born A. D. 1566, and 
died about 1614. He published ' An Itinerary, containing ten 
years' travels through the twelve dominions of Germany,' ifec, and 
^ A History of Ireland.' 

Muriate, a salt, containing muriatic or hydrochloric acid. 

Muriatic acid, an acid composed of chlorine and hydrogen ; called, 
also, hydrochloric acid, and spirit of salt. 

Muriate of ammonia, a salt composed of ammonia and muriatic acid. 

Muriate of lime, a salt composed of muriatic acid and lime. 

Muses. There were nine deities, called Muses, in heathen mythol- 
ogy, each of whom had the protection or patronage of some partic- 
ular branch of science or art; as Clio, of history, Euterpe, of mu- 
sic, Thalia, of comedy, Melpomene, of tragedy, Terpsichore, of 
dancing, Erato, of lyric poetry, Polyhymnia, of eloquence and 
mimicry, Urania, of astronomy, and Calliope, of epic poetry. 



416 GLOSSARY. 

They were represented as beautiful virgins, and were worshipped 
by the Greeks and Romans. 

J^ascent^ growing, increasing, beginning to exist or grow. 

JVatron, or Soda, an alkali obtained from marine plants. 

JVature, Laws of. See Laws. 

JYavegor, or Nafe-gar, an auger, a wimble, or instrument with which 
holes are bored in the naves of wheels, &c. 

JSTewton, (Sir Isaac,) an eminent English philosopher and mathemati- 
cian, who was born on Christmas day, 1642, and died March 20, 
1727. He was much distinguished for his very important discov- 
eries in optics and other branches of Natural Philosophy. See the 
first volume of * Pursuit of Knowledge under Difficulties,' forming 
the fourteenth volume of ' The School Library,' Larger Series. 

JVitrate, a salt, containing nitric acid. 

JVitre, or saltpetre, nitrate of potass, a salt used in making gunpowder. 

Nitric acid., an acid composed of oxygen and nitrogen. 

JVitrogen, or azote, a simple substance, which exists in the atmosphere 
in the form of gas. It does not support respiration nor flame. 

Nitrous, having the qualities of nitre. Nitrous gas, a compound of 
nitrogen and oxygen gases. 

Norman Conquest. In the year 1066, William the First, Duke of 
Normandy, invaded England with his Norman followers, and ob- 
tained the English throne. This event is called the Norman Inva- 
sion, or Norman Conquest. 

-Orders in Council, (British,) orders passed in 1807, by the British gov- 
ernment in cabinet councils, subjecting to confiscation the vessels 
of neutrals trading to any port of France, with whom Great Britain 
was then at war. These orders were issued in retaliation for the 
French decrees, and between the two, neutral commerce suffered 
very considerably. See Decrees. 

Organic, consisting of various parts cooperating with each other. 

Organic remains^ those animal and vegetable substances found in or 
upon the earth in a mineralized state. 

Otes, oats. 

Oxide, a compound (which is not acid) of a substance with oxygen; 
for example, oxide of iron, or rust of metals. 

Oxidize, to combine oxygen with a body without producing acidity. 

Oxygen, vital air, a simple and very important substance, which exists 
in the atmosphere, and supports the breathing of animals and the 
burning of combustibles. 

Oxygenous, possessing or containing oxygen. 

Oxymuriatic acid. See Chlorine. 

Packing, any substance put round the piston in a pump or other 
tube, for the purpose of making it water or air tight. 

Pallette, a pallet, a poor or hard bed. 

Papin, (Denys,) an eminent French natural philosopher, who was 
born in Blois, in France, about the middle of the seventeenth cen- 
tury. He is best known for his invention of the vessel mentioned 
on page 180. 

Parenchymatovs, spongy. 

Pariah, a low class among the Hindoos, or people of Hindoo-stan, 
or Hindostan. Any thing bad is thus termed by them. 

Paris, (Matthew,) an eminent English historian, who wrote a Univer- 
sal History, from the creation of the world to the year of his death. 
A. D. 1259. 



I 



GLOSSARY. 417 

Parnelj a wanton, immodest girl. 

Patent office, a public repository for the collection of newly-invented 
articles, and the issue of patent rights to inventors, securing to 
them the privileges of their inventions. 

Peason, pease, food of peas. 

Paintid, or peynted, painted. 

Percy, (Thomas,) Bishop, an eminent prelate, who was born at 
Bridgenorth, England, in 1728, and died at Dromore, in Ireland, 
of which he was Bishop, in 1811. Pie was author of 'Reliques 
of Ancient English Poetry,' and many other valuable works. 

Pericles, a celebrated Grecian statesman, who was for forty years at 
the head of the Athenian government. He was born about five 
hundred years before Christ, and died in the seventieth year of his 
age. During his life, the arts and sciences were in their most 
flourishing condition in Greece, and this period of history is fre- 
quently termed the Periclean age. 

Persone, a man ; generally a man of dignity ; a parson; a rector of a 
church. ^ Persones Tale,'' • Parson's Tale,' one of Chaucer's Poems. 

Peter the Wild Boy, a youth found in the woods in Hanover, in 1726, 
and carried to England, by order of Queen Caroline. No care or 
pains could ever make him articulate a word. 

Petroleum, a bituminous inflammable fluid mineral substance, re- 
sembling tar or pitch in its properties and uses. 

Peynted, painted. 

Pharmaceutical, relating to the art of pharmacy, or preparation of 
medicines. 

Philosopher's stone, see Alchymist. 

Physico-mechanico, relating to the laws of physics and mechanics- 

Physics, natural philosophy. 

Pierian, belonging to the Muses, who were also called Pierides, from 
Mount Pierus, in Thessaly, which was sacred to them. 

Pile engine, an engine for driving piles, which are large wooden posts 
or timbers, driven into the mud, to support bridges and other struc- 
tures. 

Pilkington, (James,) Bishop, a learned English prelate, who was born 
at Rivington,in Lancashire, in 1520, and died in 1575. He was forced 
to flee from England, at the accession of Queen Mary, on account 
of his opposition to Popery ; but when Elizabetli became Queen, 
he returned, and was soon after made Bishop of Durham. 

Pinion, a small wheel which plays into a larger ; or a spindle, in the 
body of which are several notches, which catch the teeth of a wheel 
that serves to turn it round. 

Plaster of Paris, gypsum, or sulphate of lime ; so called from the city 
of Paris, in the vicinity of which it is abundant. 

Platinum, the heaviest metal yet known. 

Platonic, relating to Plato, a celebrated Greek philosopher, who was 
born about B. ,C. 429, and died on his eighty-second birtliday. His 
name was given him, (from a Greek word, signifying broad,) on 
account of the breadth of his chest and forehead. 

Play of affinities, the chemical action which takes place when com- 
pound substances are mixed, for the purpose of forming new com- 
pounds ; in which case all the substances are decomposed, and 
unite in a different manner from that in which they were before 
united. 

Plover, a bird, the lapwing. 



418 GLOSSARY. 

Polytechnic J comprehending many arte. 

Pope. (Alexander,) a celebrated English poet, who was born in Lon- 
don, May 22, 1688, and died May 30, 1744. 

Pore, or poure, poor. 

Portridj portrayed. 

Pose, a cold ; a stuffing of the head ; catarrh. 

Posidonius, a philosopher, who was born at Apamea, in Syria, about 
B. C. 103. He taught at Rome, where he had Cicero, and others 
of the most distinguished Romans for his scholars. 

Potass, an alkali, composed of potassium and oxygen. 

Potassium, a light and very inflammable metal, discovered in potass, 
or potash, by Sir H. Davy. 

Protean, changing shape ; so called from Proteus, a fabulous sea- 
deity, who is said to have frequently changed his shape, to elude 
those who v/ished to consult him. 

Prussian blue, a strong and durable blue color, made from blood and 
other animal matters. 

Pulp, a soft mass. 

PyroUgneous acid, an acid obtained from the smoke of wood. 

Pyroxilic acid and spirit, a colorless volatile liquid, which is formed 
when wood is subjected to heat. It is extensively used by hat 
makers. 

Quartz, an abundant rock, of which flint, rock crystal, carnelian, jas- 
per, &c., are specimens. 

Quern, a handmill. 

Quinine, a vegetable alkali extracted from Peruvian bark. It is very 
bitter, and is used as a medicine. 

Raleigh, or Ralegh, (Sir Walter,) an illustrious English navigator and 
historian, who was born in 1552. He discovered Virginia, and 
rendered other eminent services to Queen Elizabeth; but in the 
reign of her successor, James I., he was persecuted, and finally be- 
headed, October 29, 1618. 

The Reformation, that event in the history of the Christian Church, 
when Protestants separated from the Church of Rome. 

Reredosse, the raised back of a seat; a projection built out from the 
wall, against which to build a fire. 

Residuum, the part which remains. 

The Revolution, (American.) the change in the constitution of govern- 
ment, by which the United States became independent. 

Rhodium, a brittle and extremely hard white metal, found in minute 
quantities in the ore of platinum. 

Rie, rye. 

Rigg, a ridge. 

Rittenhouse, (David,) a distinguished American Philosopher, who was 
born at German town, Pennsylvania, April 8, 1732, and died June 
26, 1796. For his Life, see the second volume of ' Lives of Em- 
inent Individuals,' forming the fifth volume of ' The School Li- 
brary,' Larger Series. 

Robespierre, (Maximilian Isidore,) a revolutionary monster, who, in 
the French Revolution, was one of the leaders of the mob, and for 
a short time had the supreme command in France, which he deluged 
in blood, but was himself executed in July, 1794. 

Rosette, an ornament in the shape of a rose. 

Riiffle, to be in contention, to put into disorder or confusion. 



GLOSSARY* 419 

RuffleTj a notorious rogue ; a disorderly person ; a disturber of peace 
and good order : also, a ruffle. 

Safflower, the dried flowers of a plant called Carthamus Tinctorius. 
It is used in dyeing, and produces a bright red color. 

Saie, say. 

St. Augustine^ or St. Austin, the first Roman Catholic Archbishop of 
Canterbury. He was originally a monk, in a convent at Rome, 
and was sent to Britain by Pope Gregory, Bishop of Rome, A. D. 
596, with forty other monks, to endeavor to bring the Bishops and 
Clergy of the British Church into subjection to the Church of 
Rome. 

St. Martin f a celebrated bishop, the first of France. He flourished in 
the fourth century, and died November 11, A. D. 400. 

Sal, salt. Sal ammoniac, a salt containing ammonia. 

Salt, a vessel to contain salt, a saltcellar. 

Samblahle, or seinhlahle, like, resembling. 

Savan^ the French term for a scientific man, 

Scaliger, (Julius Caesar,) usually called the elder, a famous Italian 
physician and philosopher and eminent Latin poet and critic, who 
was born A. D. 1484, and died in 1558. His son, Joseph Justus 
Scaliger, (called the younger,) was also a great critic and learned 
scholar, being master of thirteen languages. 

Sclayne, slain. 

Scutch, to whip, to beat. 

Seaborne, borne over the sea, brought by sea. 

Selden, seldom. 

Semi, half. Semi cylinder, a half cylinder. 

Seneca, (Marcus Annaeus,) a learned rhetorician and philosopher of 
ancient Rome, who flourished during the first half century after 
Christ. He was the tutor of the youthful Emperor Nero. Being 
suspected, by that Prince, of being connected with a conspiracy 
against his life, he was put to death, A. D. 66. 

Seringapatam, (or Patana,) a fortified city of Hindostan. It was 
formerly one of the richest cities of the East, and supposed to have 
contained, in 1782 to 1792, one hundred and fifty thousand inhab- 
itants. There are extensive quarries of granite in its vicinity. 

Shakspeare, (William,) the most celebrated English poet and writer, 
who was born A. D. 15C4, and died in 1616. 

Share, the blade of a plough,, or that part which cuts the ground. 

Shell-lac, see Lac. 

Sherman^ Roger, one of the signers of the Declaration of American 
Independence, who was born at Newton, Massachusetts, April 19, 
1721, and died at New Haven, July 20, 1793. He began life as a 
shoemaker, and rose to many high and responsible offices. 

Short dung, rotted dung for manure. 

Sidney, (Sir Philip,) one of the most accomplished statesmen of the 
reign of Queen Elizabeth, and author of 'The Arcadia,' and several 
other poems. He was born A. D. 1554, and died from wounds re- 
ceived in battle, in 1586. 

Silica, or silex, the earth of which quartz, flint, &c., are composed. 

Silicious, containing silex. 

Sinclair, (Sir John,) a distinguished statesman and agriculturist, 
who was born in Caithness, Scotland, A. D. 1754. He was for 
many years a member of Parliament, and author of many valuable 
works. 



420 GLOSSART, 

Sisyphus J a fabulous prince of antiquity, said to have been condemned" 
to roll up a hill a large stone, which no sooner reached the summit, 
than it fell back into the plain, thus rendering his punishment eter- 
nal. The epithet is often applied to any very difficult and appa- 
rently interminable labor. 

Sithy since. 

Smalt, a powdered glass, of a blue color. 

Smeaton, (John,) an eminent English mechanic and engineer, who 
was born in Yorkshire, May 28, 1724, and died September 8, 1792. 
He was the builder of the Eddy stone lighthouse. 

Smithy (Adam,) a celebrated Scottish writer on moral and political- 
economy, who was born June 5, 1723, and died in 1790. 

Smithjieldy a celebrated Square in London, in which is held the great- 
est cattle market in England. It is famous in history, as the place 
where the martyrs were burnt, in the religious persecutions of the 
sixteenth century. 

Smoke-jacky an instrument to turn a spit, and which is set in motion 
by the smoke or rarefied air ascending the chimney. 

Soda, or Matron^ an alkali obtained from the ashes of marine 
plants. 

Spenser, (Edmund,) a celebrated English poet, who was born in Lon- 
don, about A. D. 1553, and died at the age of forty-six. His great 
poem, called the ' Faerie Queene,' is full of beautiful sentiment and 
imagery, and exquisite descriptions of character. 

Sphenoid, wedge shaped j the name of one of the bones of the skull. 
See cut on page 130. 

Spoke-shave, a shave or knife used by wheelwrights and carpenters, for 
the purpose of shaving smooth the spokes of wheels, &c. 

Stippling, a mode of engraving by making dots or punctures in the 
copper, instead of cutting lines. 

Stock, cattle, and other animals on a farm. 

Strikes, combinations of workmen to abstain from work till they have 
exacted higher wages, or eifected some other object. 

Stultified, made foolish, deprived of understanding. 

Suh, a Latin prefix, signifying under or below. 

Sub-soil, the soil lying directly under the vegetable soil which is on 
the surface. 

Sulphates, Sulphats, Sulphites, salts formed by the combination of any 
base with sulphuric acid. See pp. 43, 44, note. Sulphate of coppery 
blue vitriol ; blue stone. Sulphate of iron, copperas ; green vitriol. 
Sulphate of lime, gypsum, or plaster of Paris. Sulphate of magnesia, 
Epsom salts. Sulphate of j)otash, a chemical salt, composed of sul- 
phuric acid and potash. Sulphate of soda, Glauber's salts. Sul- 
phate of zinc, white vitriol. 

Sulphurets, combinations of alkaline earths or metals with sulphur. 

Sulphuric acid, oil of vitriol ; vitriolic acid. 

Sulphuret of potash, sulphur and potash fused together. 

Sulphurous acid gas^ a gas formed by burning sulphur in oxygen or 
common air, under a bell glass. 

Sicedish turnip, or ruta baga, a variety of turnip, large, and of a yel- 
lowish color. 

Swiche, or Swilke, such. 

Tamboured, ornamented with a kind of needle-work. 

Tannin, a substance found in the bark of the oak, and almost all 
oUier trees. It is used for tanning hides, and as a dye-stuff. 



GLOSSARY. 421 

TarquinSj a family who reigned in Rome, between five and six hun- 
dred years before Christ. 

ThemistocleSj a celebrated Athenian general, who was born about 
B. C. 514, and died about B. C. 449. He was several years at the 
head of the Athenian republic, and contributed much to its security 
and the improvement of the capital. Being once laughed at, for 
his ignorance of some genteel accomplishments, he replied, *^ It is 
true, I never learned how to tune a harp, or play upon a lute ; but 
I know how to raise a small and inconsiderable city to glory and 
greatness." 

Theophrastus, a Greek philosopher and moral writer, who was born at 
Lesbos, B. C. 371, and died about B. C. 286. He wrote numerous 
works, but few of which remain. 

Toggle-joint, an elbow or knee-joint, consisting of two bars, so con- 
nected by a joint, that they may be brought into a straight line. 

Tonics, medicines to strengthen the nerves, and give vigor to the 
system. 

Topical, limited, local. 

Traction, the act of drawing a load ; draught. 

Treasury Department, the Department having the care of the revenues 
of a country. 

Treene, (from tree,) wooden, made of wood. 

Trigonometrical, pertaining to trigonometry, or the art of measuring 
triangles. 

Tubal Cain, see Genesis^ iv. 22. 

Tull, Jethro, an English gentleman, inventor of the drill-plough, and 
the first writer who ever successfully attempted to reduce agricul- 
ture to certain and uniform principles. He was born about A. D. 
1680, and died January 3, 1740. 

Tyler, a tiler, one who lays tiles on houses. 

UUoa, (Don Antonio de,) an able Spanish naval officer and mathema- 
tician, who was born at Seville, in 1716, and died in 1795. He re- 
sided ten years in South America, was Governor of Louisiana, and 
published an account of his travels. 

Ulmic acid, or humic acid, that peculiar substance or property in vege- 
table soil, which has been generally supposed to constitute the food 
or nourishment of plants. From recent researches by an agricul- 
tural chemist, (Professor Liebig, of Germany,) it would appear, 
that, instead of being directly the food of plants, it is the source of 
the carbonic acid which serves to nourish them. 

Ulysses, a celebrated ancient Grecian prince, of great valor, pru- 
dence, and sagacity. He was King of the Islands of Ithaca and 
Dulichium, in the Ionian Sea, and flourished about twelve hundred 
years before Christ. 

The United Kingdom, Great Britain, composed of England, Scotland, 
and Ireland. 

C7rc, (Andrew,) a distinguished English physician and writer, Pro- 
fessor of Practical Science, author of ^ A Dictionary of Arts, Manu- 
factures, and Mines,' and several other works. 

Utopian, imaginary ; from a work by Sir Thomas More, a celebrated 
English judge and chancellor, in which he describes the govern- 
ment, laws, <fec., of an imaginary island, which he calls Utopia, 
(from the Greek oworrog, outopos, no place,) giving political views 
much in advance of those of his age, and satirizing many of the- 
vices and absurdities of Europe. 

36 s. A. 



422 GLOS&ART, 

Vetches, a family of plants similar to the pea. 

Viaduct, a passage ; a piece of masonry built across a stream or valley 
to support a road or railway. 

Vice versa, the side being changed, or the question reversed. 

Volta, (Alexander,) a celebrated experimental philosopher, who was 
born at Como, in Italy, in 1745, and died March 6, 1826. He con- 
tributed largely to the progress of science, and paid great attention 
to electricity. To his discovery or invention of the Voltaic pile 
or battery, we are indebted for many important philosophical and 
chemical discoveries. 

Waliskmen, Welchmen. 

Watt, James, a man remarkable foT his acquisitions in science and 
natural philosophy, and for his improvements in the steam-engine. 
He was born in 1736, and died in 1819. For a biographical sketch 
of his life, see * Pursuit of Knowledge under Difficulties,' vol. ii., 
forming volume xv. of The School Library.' 

Wedgwood, (Josiah,) an eminent improver of the manufacture of pot- 
tery, who was born in July, 1730, and died January 3, 1795. He 
invented the ware which is known by his name, and rendered 
many other services to science. 

Weld, wold, yellow weed, or dyer's weed, a plant cultivated for its 
use in dyeing yellow. 

Whitney, Eli, an able and ingenious mechanician, who was born at 
Westborough, Massachusetts, in 1765, and died in 1825. He was 
buried at New Haven, and over his remains a beautiful monument 
has been erected to his memory. He was the inventor of the cot' 
ton-gin, a machine for separating the seeds from the downy fibre of 
the cotton, an operation previously performed slowly, and with 
great labor, by hand. For a description of this machine, see Bige- 
low's ' Useful Arts,' vol. i. page 111, being the eleventh volume of 
*The School Library,' Larger Series. His Life will appear in 
a subsequent volume of this series. 

WJiittemore, (Amos,) the inventor of a machine for sticking cards, 
who died at West Cambridge, in 1828, aged sixty-nine. 

Whoods, hoods, coverings for the head. 

Wicker, work made of twigs or small sticks. 

William III., Prince of Orange, born A. D. 1650, and became King of 
England, in consequence of the deposition of James II., in 1689. 
He died March 8, 1702. 

William IV., King of Great Britain, was born August 21, 1765, and 
became King on the death of his brother, George IV., June 26, 
1830. He died June 20, 1837. 

Wipers, cams of a particular construction, intended to produce two 
or more alternate movements for each revolution of the wheel. 

Witles, senseless, inconsiderate, wanting understanding. 

Wollaston, (William Hyde,) a celebrated chemist and experimental 
philosopher, who was born A. D. 1766, and died December 22, 1828. 
He became one of the most eminent chemists and experimentalists 
of modern times ; and invented the camera lucida, and several other 
valuable instruments. 

Yied, went, did go. 

Young, (Anhnr,) a celebrated English agricultural writer, who was 
born September 7, 1741, and died February 20, 1820. 



INDEX. 



Abrasion of surfaces, 297, 

Abutments, of the arch, 128. 

Acceleration, uniform, of motion, 
57. Laws regulating, 58, 59. 

Accident, sometimes originates 
important inventions, 33. 

Acetate of zinc, 43. 

Acetous fermentation, 174, 

Achromatic glass, 206. Compar- 
ed with human eye, 206, 207. 

Acid, humic, or ulmic, 109. 

Acid, sulphuric, process of manu- 
facturing, 40. 

Action and reaction, principle 
of, 54, 104. Enables the bird 
to fly, 54. 

Aeriform bodies, gravity of, acts 
as a moving force, 68. 

Affinities, chemical, applied to 
the art of dyeing, 162. 

Affinity, definition of, 40, 103. 
Distinguished from cohesion, 

40. Operation of, seen in so- 
lutions, 41, 103. Action of, op- 
posed by cohesion, 41. Chem- 
ical combinations caused by, 

41. Diff*erent degrees of, 42, 
43. Application of the laws 
of, to the useful arts, 47, 104. 

Affinity, chemical, definition of, 
40. Examples of, 40. Laws 
of, 41-47. The foundation of 
all chemical science, 47. 

Affinity, elective, 43, 103. Dou- 
ble, example of, 43. Use of, 
in the arts, 44. Defined, 43, 
103. Single, 43, 103. 

Agents, employed in the arts, 40. 

Agents, chemical, obey the laws 



of chemical affinity, 40 ; action 
of, 47, 104. 

Agents, mechanical, mode of ac- 
tion, 47, 104. Name of, 47. 
Enumeration of, 48, 104. Grav- 
ity of air, 68. 

Agriculture, importance of, 108. 
Attention, to, in diff*erent coun- 
tries, 108, Principles of, de- 
rived from chemistry and me- 
chanics, 108. Application of 
other sciences to, 108. Errors 
in, avoided by scientific infor- 
mation, 117. Chinese, 118. 
Advantage of machines in, 118, 
119. Scientific knowledge im- 
portant to the farmer, 116-121. 
Improvers of British, 117. Ig- 
norance of, cause of famines, 
120 ; of miserable condition of 
peasantry in Spain and Portu- 
gal, 120. Progress of, in Eng- 
land, 121. Relative importance 
of, compared with commerce 
and manufactures, 262. Fur- 
nishes employment to a part 
only of population, 262. Arts 
and manufactures not hostile to 
the interests of, 286. Slow ad- 
vance of, in England, 325. Re- 
cent improvements in, 328. 
Webster's account of its present 
state in England, 329. Appli- 
cation of chemistry to, 331. 
Rotation of crops, 332. Tile 
draining, 337. Irrigation, 338, 
339. American agriculture, 
341 ; inferiority of, to English 
and Scotch, 341 ; improvement 
in, 342, 



424 



INDEX. 



Agriculture, chemical, 108-118. 
Advantages of, 116 ; illustrat- 
ed by Lavoisier, 117, 118. 

Agriculture, mechanical, im- 
provement in, 119. Among 
the Greeks, 119. 

Air, vsreight of, 68 ; application 
of, as a moving force, 68 ; in 
the pump, 69 ; barometer, 70 ; 
windmills, 70, 71 ; flight of 
birds, 71. Elasticity of, 71. 
Action in the fire-engine, 71, 
72, 105 ; in the air-gun, 72, 
105 ; in bleaching, 159. As- 
sists decomposition, 186. 

Air-gun, 72. 

Alchymists, ignorant of the laws 
of Nature, 31. 

Alcohol, combines with water, 40 ; 
greater affinity for it than for 
camphor, 43. Dangers and 
evils from use of, 177-179. 

Alexander Selkirk, 10. 

Alloys, use of, 194. Most com- 
mon, 194. 

Alsace, dye-works in, 164. 

Amalgamation of ores, 193. 

America, first stagecoach estab- 
lished in, 392. 

Americans, activity of, 379, 380. 

Ancients, ignorant of the laws of 
Nature, 248. 

Animal force, 54-56. 

Animal manures, 113. 

Animals, strength of, constitutes 
the animate forces, 54 ; causes 
influencing, 54 ; rules for em- 
ploying, 55. Relative value 
of, 55. 

Animate forces, 54-56. 

Annealing, glass, 204. 

Antiseptics, properties of, 187. 
Examples of, 187. 

Appert's process for preserving 
fruit, 186. 

Aqueducts, ancient, 65. 

Arch, unknown to the earlier ar- 
chitecture, 128. First found 
among the Romans, 128. An 
Etruscan invention, 128. Prin- 
ciple of, 128. Strength of, and 



resistance to pressure, 129. 
Parts of human frame on prin- 
ciple of, 129-131 ; the foot, 
129 ; the skull, 129-131. 

Archimedean screw, Smith's, 
246. 

Archimedes, invented method of 
ascertaining specific gravities, 
67. Boast of, 93. 

Architect, knowledge of geome- 
try needed by, 123 ; of chem- 
istry, 125. Seeks permanence 
in his works, 125. Should un- 
derstand the principles of me- 
chanical philosophy, 127. 

Architecture, gives evidence of 
the progressive powers of the 
mind, 121. Of insects and 
quadrupeds, 121. Of Nature, 
122, 129-131, 132-134 ; foun- 
ded on principles slowly discov- 
ered and employed by man, 
122, 128. Applications of ge- 
ometry to, 122-124 ; of chem- 
istry, 124-126. Dependence 
of, on mechanical philosophy, 
127. Gravitation a principle of, 
127. The arch, 128-131. In 
Egypt, 128, 134, 135. The col- 
umn, 131. Of trees, 134. Ma- 
chines employed in, 134. In 
Mexico and Peru, 134. Im- 
provement in, the result of im- 
provement in mechanical sci- 
ence, 135, 136. Of dwelling- 
houses much improved, 136, 
137. 

Arkwright, Richard, his obliga- 
tions to science, 33, 34. His 
water-spinning-frame, 143, 144 ; 
his invention of, disputed, 143 ; 
improved that of Wyatt, 143. 

Armstrong, General, on manures, 
114. 

Arnott, Dr., on the relative resist- 
ance of friction, in sliding and 
rolling motion, 234. 

Art, signification of the term, 11. 
Its dependence on science, 21; 
connexion with science, 34, 35. 
Leading feature of modern im- 



INDEX. 



425 



provements in, 248. Compar- 
ison of ancient and modern, 
248, 249. Modern, the off- 
spring of science, 249. 

Artichoke, introduction of, in 
England, 345. 

Artisan, advantages of scientific 
information to, 22-34, 37 ; of 
moral and intellectual cultiva- 
tion, 35, 36. 

Arts, distinction between the fine 
and useful, 11. Study of, in- 
teresting and important to all, 
13 ; its great advantage in the 
pursuit of almost every science 
and branch of knowledge, 14 ; 
of mathematical science, 14, 
15 ; of political economy, 16 ; 
of history, poetry, &c., 16, 17. 
Spurious quality of substances 
employed in, 27. Rapid prog- 
ress of, and constant improve- 
ments in, 29, 35. Qualifica- 
tions necessary to an inventor 
in, 31, 32. Improvements in, 
preceded by discoveries in sci- 
ence, 34, 35. Evils arising 
from neglecting the application 
of science to, 36. Dependent 
on science, 36, 37. Substitute 
intelligence in place of brute 
force, 39. Agents employed 
in, 40. Importance in, of chem- 
ical combinations, 41. Ma- 
chinery employed in, 87-100, 
105. Enumeration of several 
of, 107. Agriculture one of the 
first of, 108. Of working met- 
als, 189-199 ; interest and im- 
portance of, 189 ; not unknown 
in early ages, 190 ; enumera- 
tion of, 190 ; mining, 191, 192; 

, dressing ores, 192 ; reducing, 
193 ; working up metals, 194- 
199. Of glass-making, 199- 
207. Of pottery and porcelain, 
207-213. Of copying, 213- 
230 ; casting, 214 ; engraving, 
215, 216 ; punching, 218 ; 
drawing, 219, 220; stamping, 
221; printing, 221-230. On 

36^ 



the progress of the, 246-260* 
On the connexion between the 
useful and fine, 303-306 ; in 
French manufactures, 304-306. 
School of, at Lyons, 304-306. 
Physical comfort of the people 
increased by the progress of, 
344-373. Schools of, import- 
ance of, 399. At Paris, &c., 

399. Mode of instruction in, 

400. Troy Institute, 401. 
Arts, chemical, 294 ; those em- 
ployed on metallic substances, 
301 ; earthy, 302 ; combusti- 
ble, 302 ; saline, 302; on veg- 
etable, 302 ; animal, 303. 

Arts, domestic, great improve- 
ments in, 187, 188. 

Arts, fine, 11, 303-306* 

Arts, liberal, their object, 19. 
Enumeration of, 19, 20. Use- 
ful, in the highest sense, 20, 
Founded on science, 20. 

Arts, mechanic, susceptible of 
unlimited improvement, 101. 

Arts, mechanical, classification 
of, 295-300. 

Arts, useful, connexion between 
' them, and the physical sciences, 
11, 12, 18 ; importance of this 
connexion, 12 ; evils arising 
from a disregard of it, 12. Ef- 
fects produced in, by the pow- 
ers of Nature, 39. Importance 
of double elective affinity in, 
44. Application of laws of af- 
finity to, 47. Effects of the 
application of science to, 249- 
258. Increased respectabilityof, 
251. Ignorance of, among the 
Greeks, 256. Improvements 
in, tend to economy, 256. Fa- 
cilities for cultivating and im- 
proving in America, 259, 260. 
Influence of, on national wel- 
fare, 260, 279. Aflbrd employ- 
ment, 262. Stimulate mind, 
265. Motives for cultivation 
of, in United States, 268-278 ; 
contributes to national inde- 
pendence, 274. An index of 



426 



INDEX. 



civilization, 279. Cultivation 
of, in England, 280-282. Ob- 
jections against the encourage- 
ment of, in the United States, 
considered, 283-290. Effect 
of the cultivation of, on mor- 
als, 289. By what means their 
cultivation best promoted, 290. 
Classification of, 294. 

Asparagus, first in England, 345. 

Assaying, ores, 193. 

Atmosphere, pressure of, 68. Of- 
fice of, to plants, 109. 

B. 

Babbage, Mr., quoted, 97, 98, 
219, 220, 227. 

Bacon, Lord, anecdote of, 18. 
On the twofold office of man, 
39. His Novum Organum, 251. 
On application of science to 
art, 252. Object of his philos- 
ophy, 395-397. 

Baines, Mr., on the spinning- 
frame, 143. Referred to, 149. 
On cotton manufacture, 151. 
Cheapness of cotton goods, 350. 

Baker's Chronicle, 370. 

Bakewell, on husbandry, 327. 

Baking, 181. 

Barometer, principle and use, 70. 

Beckman, on introduction of veg- 
etables in England, 345. 

Beer, statistics of, 121. 

Bees, cells of, 124. 

Bell, Sir Charles, remarks of, on 
structure of human body, 122. 
Referred to, 133. 

Bellows, hydrostatic, 63. 

Bergmann, first referred dyeing 
to chemical affinities, 162. 

Biddle, Nicholas, on manufacture 
of American iron, 376-382. 

Bigelow, Technology, 3, 201,208. 

Bird, support of, in the air, 54. 

Birds, feathers and wings of, 71. 

Black, Dr., indebtedness of Watt 
to, 33. 

Blacksmith, the literary, 310. 

Bleaching, of paper-rags, 154, 
155, 161. In general, 158- 



161. By air and light, 159. 
By chlorine, 159. By sulphur- 
ous acid gas, 160. Of wax, 
160. Theory of, 160. 

Blythe, ' Improver Improved,' 
327. 

Body, human, wonderful struc- 
ture of, 122, 129-131, 132. 

Boiling, food, 179, 180. 

Bologna phials, 204. 

Bone-dust, as a manure, 113, 328. 

Bone-mills, 113. 

Bones of the foot, 129. Of the 
skull, 130 ; parietal, 130; tem- 
poral, 130; sphenoid, 131. In 
form of hollow cylinder, 132. 

Books, facilities for obtaining, 315. 

Boring, 296. 

Bowing, of furs, 139. 

Bramah, hydrostatic-press, 64, 
105. 

Brantome's Chronicles, 363. 

Bread, vinous fermentation in, 
172. Mode of raising, 173. 

Brewster, Dr., on the eye, 207. 

Brewster, Gilbert, indebted to 
science, 322. Inventor of the 
eclipse speeder, 322. 

Bricks, 208. 

British orders, injurious to Amer- 
ican commerce, 276. 

Bronze, 194 

Brougham, Lord, on importance 
of science in cookery, 27. Dis- 
course on advantages of sci- 
ence, 30, 34. On American 
manufactures, 277. His econ- 
omy of time, 313. 

Bruce, John, biscuit-machine, 
172. 

Brunell, origin of invention of,102. 

Brussels carpets, 139. 

Buel, Judge, on root culture, 115. 
* Farmer's Companion,' 343. 

Buhl-work, how done, 218. 

Bull's eye, 203. 

Busts, plaster, 214. 

Butter, making of, 183, 184. 

C. 

Calico-machine, five-colored, 40. 



I 



INDEX. 



427 



Calico printing, art of, 164. Prin- 
ciples studied by French man- 
ufacturers, 164. Process, 165. 
Four modes, 166 ; by hand, 
166 ; by the Perrotine, 166 ; 
by tlie cylinder, 167. 

Calomel, how obtained, 44. 

Cameron, Sir Evan, 252, 253. 

Campan, Madame, her economy 
of time, 312. 

Canal, advantages of, compared 
with rail-road, 237, 238. 

Carding, process of, 148. 

Carpets, Brussels and Turkey, 
how made, 139. Kiddermin- 
ster, 140. 

Carriages, wheel, as a means of 
transportation, 232-235. Use 
of springs in, 235. 

Case, in printing-office, 222. 

Cask, pressure of water in, 63, 
64. 

Cast-iron, 195. 

Casts, copies multiplied by, 213, 
214. 

Ca^iliflower, first in England, 345. 

Celery, brought into England, 345. 

Cementation, of iron, 195. 

Cements, composition and action 
of, 126. 

Centre of gravity, 52, 53. 

Centrifugal force, a law of mo- 
tion, 50. Examples of, 50. 
Valuable application of, 51. 

Chaptal, on fallowing. 111, 112. 

Chase, printer's, 224. 

Chaucer, on pride of the table, 
371. On the clergy, 371. 

Cheese, how made, 182. Great 
care requisite to make good, 
182 ; Sir John Sinclair's re- 
marks on, 182. 

Chemical affinities, see Affinity. 

Chemical agents, 40-47. See 
Agents. 

Chemical agriculture, 108-118. 

Chemical arts, 294, 301-303. 

Chemical manufacture, see Man- 
ufacture. 

Chemical manufactures, 40, 301. 

Chemical philosophy, importance 



of, to cookery, 27 ; to agricul- 
ture, 109. 

Chemical processes in manufac- 
turing cloth, 158-165 ; in 
bleaching, 158-161 ; in dye- 
ing, 161, 164. In the domestic 
arts, 171-187. 

Chemical science, see Science. 

Chemist, farmer a, 116. 

Chemistry, importance of, to ag- 
riculture, 109, 116-118. De- 
pendence of architecture on, 
122. Applications of, to ar- 
chitecture, 124-126 ; in coun- 
teracting decay, 125 ; in ce- 
ments, 126. Application of, to 
dyeing, 162-164. 

Chloride of lime, in bleaching 
rags, 155 ; cotton, &c., 160. 

Chlorine, used as a bleaching 
agent, 159 ; its action, 160. 

Chlorine gas, in bleaching, 154. 

Chronicle, Hollingshed's, on prog- 
ress of luxury in England, 137, 
255, 347- 

Churning, attended by chemical 
changes, 183. A delicate proc- 
ess, 184. 

Civilization, the work of industry, 
247. State of the useful arts, 
an index of, 279. High state 
of, in England, 281, 282. 

Clay, contracts by heat, 77. As 
a manure, 112. Various kinds 
used in pottery and porcelain, 
208. Process of preparing, 208, 
209 ; shaping, 209, 210 ; burn- 
ing, 210 ; glazing, 211. 

Cloth, manufacture of, 138. Prep- 
aration of the fibres, 138. 
Weaving, various kinds of, 139. 
Dressing, l40, 141. Machinery 
used in manufacturing, 141— 
145. Manufacture of cotton, 
145-152. Chemical processes 
employed in manufacturing, 
158. Comfort of mankind in- 
creased by improvements in 
manufacture of, 168, 169. 

Clowes, Messrs., rapid operation 
of their power-presses, 225. 



428 



INDEX. 



Coal, value of, 376. Abundance 
of, in America, 377, 378. 

Coffee, introduction of, in Eng- 
land, 374. 

Cohesion, distinction between it, 
and affinity, 40, 41. Lessened 
by heat, &c., 41. Mechanical 
works founded on, 299. 

Coke, Mr., his land cultivation, 
334. 

Colchester, condition of, in the 
fourteenth and nineteenth cen- 
turies compared, 360-367. 

Colquhoun, on comparative moral- 
ity of manufacturing and agri- 
cultural classes, 289. 

Column, principles regulating the 
use of, 131. Advantages of the 
hollow cylinder form, 131, 132. 

Commerce, effect of, on national 
progress, 230. Fluctuations of, 
272. Independence of foreign, 
274. Where most flourishing, 
285, 286. 

Comminuting soils, 298. 

Commons, or middling class, ori- 
gin of, 308. 

Comparative expense of manufac- 
ture of cotton in United States 
and Great Britian, 401. 

Composition, chemical, results 
from active affinity, 44. Ex- 
amples of, 44. 

Compositor, work of a, 223. 

Compound motion, instances and 
laws of, 51, 52. 

Compounds, chemical, laws of, 
and instances of, 42-47. Re- 
markable characteristic of, 45. 

Conveyance, water, relative ad- 
vantage of, and land-convey- 
ance, 237, 238. Steam-boat, 
243, 244. 

Cookery, art of, connected with 
the principles of chemical phi- 
losophy, 27. 

Copper-plates, 225. Copied by 
means of galvanic electricity, 
387, 388. 

Copying, art of, 213-230 ; by 
casting, 213, 214. Chief labor 



of, in forming the pattern, 217. 
By punching, 218 ; drawing, 
219 ; wire-drawing, 219 ; tube- 
drawing, 219; iron-rolling, 220; 
stamping, 221 ; printing, 221— 
226 ; transfer, 228, 229. In- 
fluence of, on welfare of hu- 
man race, 227. 

Cornwall, mines of described, 
191, 192. 

Corrosive sublimate, a product of 
mercury and chlorine, 45. « 

Cotton, manufacture of, 145-152 ; \ 
ginning, 145. American sea- 
island, and upland, 145, 146. 
Increased cultivation of, since 
the invention of Whitney's cot- 
ton-gin, 146. Statistics of, 
146, 169. Processes prepara- 
tory to carding, 147. Carding, 
148. Drawing and plying, 

148. Roving, 148. Spinning, 

149. Weaving, 150. Various 
transformations of, 151. Ex- 
port of, 271. Effect of culti- 
vation of, on progress of so- 
ciety, 393, 394. Montgome- 
ry's comparison of American 
and British manufacture, 401. 

Cotton-mill, finest example of au- 
tomatic industry, 40. 

Cradle, in agriculture, 119. 

Cream, constituents of, 183. 

Creation, works of, formed on 
mathematical principles, 71. 

Crops, green. 111. Rotation of, 
112, 332, 335. White, 332. 
Green, 332. 

Crystallizability, 300. 

Culinary processes, 179-181 ; 
boiling, 179, 180 ; baking, 181. 

Culley, his * Observations on Live 
Stock,' 327. 

Culture, benefits of, to the artisan, 
35, 36. Root, 115. 

Cylinder, hollow, advantage of, 
in the form of a column, 131- 
133. Bones of the human frame 
formed on the principle of, 132. 
Employed in Nature, 133. 

Cylinders, for drying paper, 158. 



INDEX. 



429 



D. 

Damiani, Cardinal, strictures of, 
on luxury, 374. 

Dams, how undermined, 65. 

Davy, Sir Humphrey, ' Principles 
of Agricultural Chemistry,' 25. 
Safety lamp, 34. On manures, 
113. On electricity applied to 
plants, 115. Improver of agri- 
culture, 117. Application of 
chemistry to agriculture, 331. 

Dead water, 236. 

Dean, Professor, on Buel's * Far- 
mer's Companion,' 343. 

Decay, causes of, 124, 125 ; ar- 
chitect must guard against, 125. 
Antidotes against, 125, 126. In 
wood, 126. Vegetable and an- 
imal substances liable to, 185. 
Causes of, 185 ; moisture, 185 ; 
air, 186 ; heat, 187. Temper- 
ature most favorable to, 187. 
Arrested at freezing point, 187. 
Prevented by antiseptics, 187. 

Deckel, 156. 

Defoe, origin of his romance of 
Robinson Crusoe, 10. 

Description of England, Harri- 
son's, 344. 

Diagonal of a parallelogram, 51. 

Digester, Papin's, 180. 

Distillation, process of, 177. 

Distilling, 297. 

Divisibility, processes referrible 
to, 296-299. 

Division of labor, 257, 283. 

Dixon, Joseph, discoverer of 
method of copying by transfer, 
228 ; process described, 229 ; 
account of his discovery, 229 ; 
specimens, 229. Copies of 
medals by, 388. 

* Doctor,' quotation from, 350. 

Doffing-cylinder, 148. 

Doffing-plate, 148. 

DoUond, inventor of the achro- 
matic glass, 206. 

Donkin's pressure apparatus, 158. 

Double-speeder, description and 
use of, 148, 149. 

Draining, of soils, 110, 111. 



Draining, tile, how effected, 337. 

Benefits of, 337. 
Drains, see Draining. 
Drill, agricultural implement, 119. 
Dry-rot, 126. 
Dupont's copying by transfer, 

228. 
Dyeing, a chemical process, 162. 

Depends on affinities, 162. Use 

of mordants in, 163. 

E. 

Eastern islands, want of iron 
among people of, 198. 

Economy, an effect of improve- 
ments in the arts, 257. Of 
materials, 257, 258. 

Eden, Sir F. M., on diet in Eng- 
land, 344. His * History of the 
Poor,' 361. 

Edward HI., condition of the Eng- 
lish people during the reign of, 
360-365 ; of the city of Col- 
chester, 360-365. Dress in the 
reign of, 371, 372. 

Egypt, architecture in, 128, 134, 
135. Pyramids of, 135. 

Egyptians, unacquainted with the 
arch, 128 ; with the arts of 
building, 134, 135 ; with the 
use of weaver's shuttle, 142. 

Elasticity, of air, 71. Processes 
founded on, 300. 

Electricity, assists vegetation, 115. 
A destroying agent, 125. 

Electricity, galvanic, engraving 
by, 382-388. Common copper- 
plates copied by, 387, 388. 
Precipitating metals by, appli- 
cable to various purposes in the 
arts, 388 ; to copying medals, 
388. 

Elephant, effective force of, 55. 

Elixir of life, pursuit of, conse- 
quence of ignorance, 31. 

Elizabeth, reign of, state of the arts 
during, 254, 255. Domestic 
accommodations, comforts, &c., 
of the people during, 254, 265, 
344-349. England in the reiga 
of, 344-349. Hose worn by. 



430 



INDEX. 



^47: Clothiflg, lodgings, &c., 
of the people, 347-349. 

Embossing, process of, 226. 

Emery, in polishing glass, 205. 

Employment, productive, depen- 
dence of national welfare, on, 

262. In arts and manufactures, 

263. Varieties of, 269. 
Engine, beating, in paper-making, 

155. Fire, how worked, 71. 
Steam, see Steam-engine. Stuff, 
154. 

England, husbandry in, 108. On 
progress of luxury in, 254, 255. 
Civilization in, a consequence 
of cultivation of the useful arts, 
280-282. Prosperity of, 281. 
Moral condition of operatives in, 
289 ; of peasantry, 289. Ac- 
count of present state of agricul- 
ture in, 329-341. Climate and 
soil compared with those of 
United States, 329, 330 ; price 
of land and labor, 330, 331. 
Agricultural wealth of, 341. 
Description of, in the reign of 
Elizabeth, 344-349 ; food, 344- 
346; clothing, 347 ; lodgings, 
347-349. Mode of living, in 
the reign of Henry VII., 359 ; 
Edward III., 360-365, 370. 
Dress in, in the fourteenth cen- 
tury, 371. Cotton manufac- 
ture in, compared with United 
States, 401. 

Engravers' plates, method of 
forming, 215. 

Engraving, varieties of, 215. 
Wood, 215. Line, 215. Me- 
chanical, 215. Mezzotinto, 215. 
Chemical, 215. Etching, 215, 
216. Galvanic, 216. On steel, 
Perkins's invention for multi- 
plying copies of, 227. By gal- 
vanic electricity, 382-388. Pro- 
cess of, described, 385-388. 

Epsom salt, 42. 

Equilibrium, unstable, 53. 

Erasmus, on mode of living in 
England, 364. 

Ericsou's propeller, 246. 



.1 



Etching, process of, 215, 216. 

Evaporation, of sea- water, salt^ 
resulting from, 42. 

Everett, Edward, work of, re- 
ferred to, 310. 

Exchanges, domestic promote na- 
tional prosperity, 273, 274. 

Exchanges, commercial, 284-286. 
Domestic, 286. 

Expense of manufacturing cotton 
in America and Great Britain 
compared, 401. 

Exploding, or blasting, 298. 

Exports of United States, 272, 
273. 

Eye, human, formation of, 207. 

F. 

Factories, heating by steam, 78. 

Fallowing, lands. 111, 333. 

Famines, caused by ignorance and 
imperfection of husbandry, 120. 

Farmer, the, importance of scien- 
tific knowledge to, 24-26. A 
chemist, 116. Improved con- 
dition of, 120. 

* Farmer's Companion,' quoted, 
115. Remarks on, 343. 

Feldspar, material of Chinese 
porcelain, 212. 

Fellenberg, institution of, at Hof- 
wyl, 400. 

Fermentation, processes depen- 
dent on, 171. Arts connected 
with, 171. Different kinds of, 

172. Vinous, instances of, 172, 

173. Acetous, 174. 

Fibres, on twisting, weaving, &c., 
138-140. Of flax, cotton, wool, 
fur, rags, 139. 

Fine arts, 11. 

Fire-engine, how worked, 71. 

Fletcher, statement of, respecting 
mendicancy in Scotland, 352. 

Flint, constituent of glass, 200, 
201. 

Fluids, action of gravity through, 
60. Flowing through orifices, 
pipes, canals, &c., 62. Slight 
cohesion of, 63. On the pressure 
of, 64, 65 ; its equality, 63, 64. 



INDEX. 



431 



Level of, 65 ; a consequence of 
equal pressure and gravity, 65. 
Specific gravity of, 67. 

Fly-wheel, application of inertia, 
60. Power of, 97. Use of, 98. 

Food, on preparing, 170, 171, 
179, 185. Application of heat 
to, 179-181. On preserving, 
185-187. Improvement of, in 
quantity and quality, 188. In 
England, in the reign of Eliza- 
beth, 344-346. 

Foot, formed on the principle of 
the arch, 129. 

Force, advantage of changing the 
direction of, 93 ; in steam- 
boats, 94. 

Force, animal, 54-56, 104, 231. 
Should be employed, when pos- 
sible, in preference to human, 
56, 231. 

Force, centrifugal, 50, 51. 

Force, human, compared with an- 
imal, 56, 231. Most expensive 
of all forces, 56 ; least conve- 
nient, 56. Exercised without 
intelligence, degrades man, 56. 
In the East, 232. 

Forces, or prime movers, 47, 48, 
68. Two, acting on a body in 
motion, 51. Employed to pro- 
duce motion, 54. Regulated 
by machinery, 97. Of variable 
intensity, 97. 

Forces, animate, 54, 104. Laws 
regulating, 54, 55, 104. 

Forces, inanimate, 56, 57, 71, 75, 
104. 

Form, in printing, 224. 

Fourdrinier, Messrs., their paper 
machine, 157. 

Franklin, Benjamin, 309, 310. 

Fr^e cities of Europe, the useful 
arts in, 279. Impulse given by, 
to civilization and liberty, 308. 

Free trade, 290, 291. 

French decrees, effect on Ameri- 
can commerce, 276. 

Friction, 232, 233. Expedients 
for lessening, 233 ; rolling mo- 
tion, 233. 



Frit, 202. 

Frost, caused by evaporation, and 

radiation, 116. 
Fruit, preservation of, 186 ; Ap- 

pert's process for, 186. 
Fulling cloth, 140. Known to the 

Greeks and Romans, 141. 
Fulling-mill, 140. 
Fulton, his want of scientyie 

knowledge, 321. 
Fur, bowing of, 139. 
Furnaces, defects in construction 

of, 86. Hints for improvements 

in, 86, 87. Hot-blast, 87. 
Fusibility, 300. 

G. 

Galileo, 33. His application of 
science to art, 34. Discoveries 
of, 59, 131. Charged with 
Atheism, 133. On limit to size 
in works of art, 133. 

Galley, printer's, 223. 

Galvanism, 383, 384. 

Gangues, of metals, 191. 

Gas, carbonic acid, necessary to 
plants, 109. How generated, 
110,111. A principle of decay, 
124. 

Gas, chlorine, used in bleaching 
paper-rags, 154. 

Gas, sulphurous acid, 160. 

Gauze, how woven, 139. 

Geometry, applied to architect- 
ure, 122-124. 

Gin, rolling, 145. 

Gin, saw, 145. 

Glass, 200-206. Important use^ 
of, 200. Windows, a modern 
invention, 201. Making, 201 ; 
blowing, 202 ; casting, 203 ; 
moulding, 204 ; annealing, 

204 ; grinding and cutting, 

205 ; coloring and staining, 
205, 206. 

Glauber's salt, 42. 

Glazing pottery, process of, 211. 

Chinese, 211. Of stone ware, 

211. Lead, 212. 
Gold, purity, test of, 67. 
Gordon, Mr., on applications of 



432 



INDEX. 



Steam, 83-85. On steam-boat 
conveyance, 243. 

Governor, a regulating machine, 
98. 

Grain, waste of, 121. 

Grainger, on Tillage, 326. 

Granite, method of splitting, near 
Seringapatam , 27. 

Granulating, 297. 

Grape, yields best wine, 173, 174. 

Grape-vines, furnished with elec- 
tric conductors, 115. 

Gravitation, universality of law of, 
13. A principle of architecture, 
127. Machinery founded on 
law of, 300. 

Gravity, substances acted on by, 
57 ; its effect on solid bodies, 
57, 105 ; on projectiles, 57. 
Accelerating force of, 58. Acts 
through fluids, 60 ; examples, 
60-71, 105 ; water-wheels, 60, 

61, 105 ; pipes, canals, &c., 

62, 105. Action modified by 
pressure of fluids, 63. One 
cause of the level of fluids, 65. 
Of aeriform bodies, 68. Ac- 
tion of, on water, 105 ; on air, 
105. 

Gravity, centre of, 52. Necessi- 
ty of supporting, 53. Impor- 
tance of determining position 
of, 53. 

Gravity, specific, mode of as- 
certaining, 66. Of solids 66 ; 
fluids, 67. Water the standard 
of, 66. Advantage over air, 66. 
Mode of ascertaining invented 
by Archimedes, 67. A test of 
the purity of substances, 67. 

Great Britain, slow advance of 
agricultural improvements in, 
325. Increased production and 
accumulation of, 367-370, Sta- 
tistics of population in, 367, 
368 ; of articles of consumption, 
&c., 368, 369 ; of commerce, 
&c., 369. Road-communica- 
tion of, 391. Comparative rate 
of travelling in, at different pe- 
riods, 391, 392. Expense of 



manufacturing cotton compared 

with the United States, 401. 
Greeks, ignorance of mechanic 

powers, 72 ; of the useful arts,; 

256. Agricultural implements 

used by, 119. Spinning and 

weaving among, 141. 
Greene, Nathaniel, the black* 

smith, 309. 
Griffiths, Mr., on roads in Ireland, 

243. 
Grindstones, singular action of 

centrifugal force on, 50. 
Guinard, M., improvement of, in 

objectglasses, 207. 
Guizot, on combination of theorjf 

with practice, 250. 
Gun, air, 72. 
Gunnery, art of, indebted to mei 

of science, 57. 

H. 

Half-stuflf, 154. 

Hamilton, on commercial ex- 
changes, 284. 

Hammer, tilt, velocity of, 97. 

Hand, excellence and powers of, 
83, 89. 

Hargreaves, Richard, introduced 
the spinning-jenny, 142. 

Harrison, on bread in Elizabeth's 
reign , 344. On poverty in reign 
of Edward III., 362, 364. 

Harte, Mr., 'Essays' of, referred 
to, 325. 

Heat, as a mechanical agent, 75, 
105 ; expands bodies, 75, 105 ; 
remarkable instance of its use, 
75. Substances contracted by, 

77. Efl^ects of expansive pow- 
er of, 78 ; sometimes injurious, 

78. Eflfect of, on pendulums, 
78 ; causes irregularity in 
clocks, 78. Changes form of 
bodies, 78-81, 105. Changes 
water to vapor, 78. An almost 
universal fuser, 85. Importance 
of, 85. Production and appli- 
cation of, one of the most im- 
portant arts, 85 ; still very im- 
perfect, 86 ; defects in, 86, 87. 



INDEX. 



421 



On practical economy of, 86. 
Hints on generating and using, 
86, 87, 105. Service of, to 
plants, 115, 116. A cause of 
decay, 125, 187. 

Henry IV., mode of living in the 
reign of, 373-375. 

Henry VII., mode of living in the 
reign of, 359. 

Herschel, his Discourse on study 
of natural philosophy, 27, 28. 

Hiero, King of Syracuse, 67. 

Highlands of Scotland, miserable 
condition of people of, in eigh- 
teenth century, 354-357. Ben- 
efit of opening good roads in, 
241. See Scotland. 

History, its neglect of state and 
progress of the arts, 247. 

* History of the Middle and Work- 
ing Classes,' in England, 
Wade's, 345, 346. 

Hofwyl, Fellenberg's institution 
at, 400. 

Holingshed's ' Chronicle,' on the 
progress of luxury in England, 
137, 255, 347-349. 

Home-market, advantages of, 
273, 286. 

Horse, force exerted by, 55. Best 
method of employing strength 
of, 55. 

Horse-pow^er, 231. 

Hot-blast, in furnaces, 87. In 
fusing iron, 376. 

Hot-pressed paper, 157. 

Houses, improvement in, 351. 

Human force, see Force. 

Humate, 109. 

Hume, on raising and use of veg- 
etables in England, 345. 

Humen, 110. 

Husbandry, in England, 327. 
Drill, introduced in England, 
by Tull, 327. Stock, improve- 
ment in, 327. Arable, progress 
of, 328. Implements of, 340. 

Hydrostatic bellows, principle of, 
63. 

Hydrostatic press, force of, 64 ; 
explained, 64. 

36 



Hydrostatic pressure, 63, 64. 

I. 

Ice preserves food, 187. 

Ignorance, dangers of, 22, &c., 
30, 45. Cause of failure or 
delay in attempted inventions 
or improvements, 31, 32, 33, 
321, 322. Of scientific princi- 
ples, 73, 74. 

Impenetrability, 299. 

Implements of agriculture, 118, 
119. Improvements in, 118- 
121. Used by the Greeks, 
119. Plough, 119 ; harrov^, 
119 ; drill, 119 ; cradle, 119. 
Inventions in, 120. Production 
increased fivefold by means of, 
120. 

Inclined plane, 91. Includes the 
screw^, and wedge, 91. 

India muslin, 141. 

Inertia, 48-50. Gradually over- 
come in the case of rail-road 
cars, 49. Machinery, founded 
on principle of, 299, 300. 

Instruction, technological, 397. 
Professorships of, in Germany 
and France, 399. 

Instruments, levelling, 66. Use 
of, 66. 

Intellect, supremacy of, 249. 

Inventors, in the arts, qualifica- 
tions for becoming, 31, 32. 
Names of most distinguished, 
33. Generally men of science, 
33, 34. Borrow hints from the 
works of Nature, 102. 

Ireland, benefit to parts of, from 
improved roads, 242, 243. 

Iron, value of, 189, 190. Art of 
working introduced into Britain 
by Julius Ceesar, 190. Process 
of working ; cast ; wrought ; 
puddling and rolling ; pigs ; 
case-hardening ; cementation of; 
tempering, 195. Conversion of, 
into a knife-blade, 195-199. 
Demand for, in the Eastern isl- 
ands, 198. Manufacture of, 
295. 

S. A.. 



402 



INDEX. 



« 



Iron, American, Mr. Biddle on 
manufacture of, 376-382. Ap- 
plication of hot-blast to fusion 
of, 376. Importation of, 377, 
381. Means for manufactur- 
ing in our own country, 378, 
379. 

Iron, cast, how concerted into 
wrought, 96, 195. 

Iron-rolling, 220. 

Iron-trade, increase of, 367. 

Irrigation, 338, 339. 

Italy, vegetables introduced into 
England from, 345. 

•Itinerary of England, 'Moryson's^ 
346. 

Ivory-blacky 161, 



Jacobi, Professor, on galvanic 

engraving, 383. 
James I., price of provisions in 

reign of, 346 ; clothing worn, 

347. 

K. 

Kempton, Mr., on cotton manu- 
facture in America, 271. 

Kennedy, on tillage, 326. 

Kidderminster carpets, 140. 

Knowledge, agency of, on human 
power and happiness, 247. 
Characterizes modern art, 248. 
Increased regard paid to, 249. 
A necessary of life, 317r Im- 
portant assistant in business, 
318-322. Moral and intellec- 
tual advantages of, 323. Pow- 
er conferred by, 324. 



Labor, must be adapted to climate 
and position, 267. Division of, 
257, 283 ; favors the cultiva- 
tion of the mind, 314. Price 
of, in United States and Eng- 
land, 379. 

Lace, mode of weaving, 139. 

Lactometer, 67. 

Land conveyance, 237, 238. 

Lathe, turning, 99. 



La Vendee, Lavoisier's farm fli^ 
117, 118. 

Lavoisier, 117, 118. His arrest 
and fatCy 117. 

Law of definite proportions, 46. 

Laws of affinity, 41-47. 

Laws of motion, 48-54, 104, 248. 

Laws of Nature, 13, 14, 21, 22, 
23, 31,248. 

Lead, sulphate of, how produc- 
ed, 43, 44. Why so called, 
44. 

Lead, sugar of, its composition, 
43. Results of mixing with 
white vitriol, 43. Employed in 
adulterating wine, 175. 

Legare, Hon. H. S., speech of, 
281, 282,393-395. 

Leicester, Earl of, 334. 

Level of fluids, 65. Principle of 
fountains, &c., 65. Of level- 
ling instruments, 66» See Flu- 
ids. 

Level, water, construction and 
figure of, 66. 

Levelling instruments, 65, 66. 

Lever, the, examples of, 89, 95* 
Of three kinds, 89, 90. Figures 
of, 90. Action of, on veloci- 
ty, 95. 

Liberal arts, 19, 20. 

Light, effect of, on plants, 115. 

Lime, constituent part of plants, 
110, 113. 

Lime, chloride of, used for bleach- 
ing, 155, 160. 

Line engraving, 215. 

Linen, scarcity of, in reign of 
Elizabeth, 347 ; of Henry VIL, 
359, 363. 

Liquids, their solvent property, 
41, 103. Increased by heat, 
41. Point of saturation in, 42* 
When saturated with one sub- 
stance, capable of combining^ 
with a second and third,- 42. 

Lithography, process of, 216. 

Locomotion, advantages of differ- 
ent kinds of, 230-232. Rela- 
tive value of steam, as a means 
of, 231,232. Wheel carriages. 



INDEX. 



438 



232-235. Vessels, 235, 236, 

Roads, 237, &c. 
London (Quarterly Review, 221- 

224. 
Lothians, the, state of the people 

in, 356. 
Lowell, manufactories at, 263, 

290. 
Lyons, silk manufacture of, 304- 

306. School of arts at, 304. 

M. 

MeCulloch's ' Statistics of the 
British Empire,' 143, 149, 329, 
357. On division of labor, 283 ; 
on slow advance of agricultural 
improvements in England, 325. 
On clothing, food, &c., in reign 
of Elizabeth, 347. On manu- 
factures and agriculture in Scot- 
land, 351. 

Machine, calico, 40. 

Machine, new printing, 225. 

Machinery, employed in the arts, 
87-102. All composed of the 
three simple machines, 92, 105. 
Uses of, 92-100, 105, 106 ; di- 
vides resistance, 92 ; changes 
direction, 93 ; changes velocity, 
94, 106 ; renders motion uni- 
form, 97, 106 ; accumulates 
force, 98, 106 ; saves power, 

98, 106 ; secures exactness in 
work, 99, 106 ; increases ef- 
ficiency of human strength, 99 ; 
of inanimate forces of Nature, 

99. Further advantages of, 
100; examples, 100. Reasons 
for the invention and employ- 
ment of, 105. Used in manu- 
facturing cloth, &c., 141-145. 
Economy of, 257. Substitution 
of, for human labor, 270 ', ad- 
Vantage of this, 271. 

Machines, construction of, 89. 
Those employed in architec- 
ture, 134 ; at first very rude, 
134. Improvement in, 135. 
Advantages from the knowl- 
edge and use of, 1 36. Used in 
the manufacture of cloth, &c.. 



141-145. Those used in paper- 
making, 153-158 ; in calico- 
printing, 165-168 ; in making 
ship-biscuit, 171 ; in working 
iron, 197. 

Machines, simple, enumeration 
and description of, 89-92, 105. 
Reduced to three classes, 92. 
Applied to accumulate force, 
98. Of unlimited application, 
101. 

Magnitude, limit to, in works of 
art, 133; of Nature, 134. 

Malt, 173. 

Man, his physical inferiority to 
other animals, 9 ; Robinson Cru- 
soe, 9; Ross Cox, 10. His in- 
tellectual power, 10; effects of, 
as cooperating with the laws and 
powers of Nature, 11. Superior 
to the animals by means of the 
arts, 36. Agent of powers of 
Nature, 39, 100. Twofold of- 
fice of, in regard to Nature, 39. 
Superiority of, to animals, 88. 
Hand of, 88. A tool-making 
animal, 89. Requires the aid 
of machinery, 99. Wonderful 
frame of, 102. Progressive 
powers of his mind, shown in 
architecture, 122. Clothing of, 
138. Happiness and virtue of, 
affected by physical comforts, 
253. Importance of study and 
knowledge to, 324. 

Manual labor, not incompatible 
with study, 310. 

Manufactories, in the United 
States, statistics of, 263, 264. 
At Lowell, 263. Division of 
labor in, 265. Show the close 
connexion between science and 
industry, 266. 

Manufacture, of scythes, 97. Of 
boxes, 99. Of cloth, paper, 
&e., 137-170. Of India mus- 
lin, 141, 142. Of cotton, 145 
-152,401. Of paper, 152-158. 
Of metals, 189-199. Of glass, 
199-206. Of pottery and por- 
celain, 207-213. 



424 



INDEX. 



Manufacture, chemical, depends 
on affinities, 40. Mechanical, 
automatic, 40. 

Manufactures, occupation afford- 
ed by, 263. American, 277, 
278, 285. Encouragement of, 
not prejudicial to interests of 
commerce and agriculture, 278, 
285, 286. Advantage of, to 
England, 280-282. Classifica- 
tion of, 294. French, silk, 304 
-306. 

Manufactures, chemical, classifi- 
cation of, 301-303. Those em- 
ployed on mineral substances, 
301; on vegetable, 301, 302 ; 
on animal, 301, 303. Of me- 
tallic substances, 301 ; earthy, 
302; combustible, 302 ; saline, 
302. 

Manure, application of, to differ- 
ent soils, 25. Different kinds 
of, 112. Varieties of mineral, 
112 ; their use, 112, 113. An- 
imal, kinds and use of, 113. 
Vegetable, 113 ; Sir H. Davy 
on, 113 ; General Armstrong, 
114. Most common, 114. Bone- 
dust, 113,328. 

Manuscript copies of books, 227, 
228. 

Maps, colored, by metal types, 
226. 

Marseilles quilts, mode of weav- 
ing, 140. 

Martin, General, his legacy to 
found a School of Arts, 306. 

Material history of man, interest 
of a, 247. 

Mathematical sciences, connexion 
with the useful arts, 14, 15. 

Matrices, of metals, 191. Moulds, 
217. 

Matter, inert, 48. 

Meat, butchers', high price of, in 
reign of James I. ,346. Increas- 
ed demand for, in Scotland, 
357. Little used in reign of 
Henry IV., 374. 

Mechanical agents, 47, 48, 68, 
104. 



Mechanical agriculture, 119. 

Mechanical manufacture, 40. 

Mechanical philosophy, depen- 
dence of architecture on, 127. 
Principles of, 127. 

Mechanical powers, ignorance of i 
the Greeks and Romans res- I 
pecting, 72. Principles not 
generally understood, 73 ; in- 
stances of this, 73, 74. Enum- 
eration of, 89, 105 ; examples 
of, lever, 89 ; wheel and axle, 
89, 90 ; inclined plane, screw, 
and wedge, 91 ; pulley and 
rope, 91. Reduced to three 
classes, 92. 

Mechanics, on the influence of, 
in the community, 307. Ben- 
efits conferred on society by, 
308. Services of, to the cause 
of liberty, 309. Means of, for 
obtaining useful knowledge, 
312 ; time, 314 ; facilities, as 
books, lectures, &c., 315. Ad- 
vantages of learning, to, 316— 
318. Usefulness and happi- 
ness of, proportionate to knowl- 
edge, 317. Knowledge, of es- 
sential service to, in business, 
318, 319 ; in providing against 
emergencies, 320 ; enabling to 
judge of inventions &c., 320 ; 
to invent and improve, 321 ; 
moral and intellectual advan- 
tages of knowledge to, 323. 

iMechanic's Literary and Benevo- 
lent Society, Address before, 
306-325. 

Mechanism, traces of, in the works 
of God, 101, 102. 

Medals, process of stamping, 221. 
Copied by means of galvanic 
electricity, 388, 389. 

Meigle, account of the parish of, 
353, 354. 

Mendicancy, in Scotland, 352, 
356. 

Metals, arts of working, 189-199. 
Value and usefulness of, 189. 
Processes of working, 190. 
Found combined with other 



iNDEX. 



425 



substances, 190. Working of 
pure, 194. Casting, 194. Used 
for engraver's plates, 215. 

Mexico, architecture of, 134. 
Temple at, 135. 

Mezzotinto, 215. 

Milk, on the management of, 181 
—185. How made into cheese, 
182 ; butter, 183. 

Mills, wind, 71. 

Mills, cattle, used in Rome, 72. 

Mills, saw, 94. 

Millstones, curious process in 
France, 28. 

Mind, power of, seen in the op- 
erations of a large factory, 
266. 

Mineral manures, 112, 113. 

Mines, of Cornwall, description 
of, 191, 192. 

Mines, coal and iron, in United 
States, 377, 378. 

Mining, art and processes of, 191, 
192. 

Moisture promotes decomposition, 
185. 

Montgolfier, Messrs., their mode 
of bleaching paper-rags, 154. 

Montgomery's comparison of A- 
merican and British cotton man- 
ufacture, 401. 

Moody, Paul, a distinguished ma- 
chinist, 150. His warping ma- 
chine, 150. 

Mordants, derivation of the name, 
163. Office of, 163. Mode of 
using, 163, 164. 

Moryson, his * Itinerary of Eng- 
land,' 346. 

Motion, laws of, 48-54, 104, 248; 
inertia, 48 ; centrifugal force, 
50; degree and direction offeree 
applied, 51 ; when a body is 
acted upon by two forces, 52 ; 
principle of action and reaction, 
54. Forces employed, to pro- 
duce, 54. Gravity as a mov- 
ing force, 57. Uniform accel- 
eration of, 57, 58. Produced 
by gravity, 58. Uniformity of, 
result of machinery, 97. Roll- 

36* 



ing and sliding, 233. Through 

water, 235-237. On rail-roads, 

238. 
Motion, compoundj instances and 

laws of, 51, 52. 
Moulds, paper, 156. 
Mountains, height of, indicated by 

the barometer, 70. 
Moving power, 152, 231, 232. 
Mule, machine used in spinning, 

149. Self-acting, 149, 
Music-printing, 225. 
Muslin, India, manufacture of, 

141. 

N. 

National prosperity, see Prosperi- 
ty. 

Natural philosophy, Herschel's 
Discourse on the study of, 27, 
28. 

Nature, architecture of, 122, 128 
-133. Furnishes ideas to man, 
124, 128. 

Nature, laws of, the foundation 
of the principles on which the 
useful arts depend, 13, 14. Ab- 
solute and immutable, 21. Dis- 
covered and made known by 
science, 21. A knowledge of, 
essential to the artisan, 22, 23. 
Forbid the inventor in the arts 
to attempt impossibilities, 31, 
248. 

New England, manufactories in, 
264. 

New Zealand, houses in, 136. 

Nimmo, Mr., on roads in Ireland^ 
242. 

Nomenclature, chemical, princi- 
ples of, 43, 44. 

Northumberland, Duke of, his 
establishment, in sixteenth cen- 
tury, 359, 363. 

Nottinghamshire, tile draining in, 
337. 

* Novum Organum,' of Bacon, 
251. 

O. 

Oil has no affinity for water, 40. 



426 



INDEX. 



^ 



Oils, essential, how procured, 177. 
Uses of, 177. 

Oleometer, 67. 

Operatives, English, moral condi- 
tion of, 289. 

Ores, dressing, &c., 192. Re- 
ducing, 193. Smelting, 193, 
196. Assaying, 193. 

Ox, used for farm labor, 55. 

Oxides, metallic, used in coloring 
glass, 205 ; for glazing pottery, 
211 ; of lead, in glass-making, 
207. 



Paper, improvement in the man- 
ufacture of, 152, 153. Process 
of making, 153-158. Sizing 
of, 155, 157. Moulds, 156. 
Water-mark in, 156. Forming 
sheets of, 156, 157. Hot-press- 
ed, 157. Manufactured by ma- 
chinery, 157 ; advantages of 
this mode, 157, 158. 

Papin's digester, 180. 

Parallelogram, diagonal of, de- 
scribed by a moving body when 
acted upon by two forces, at 
right angles, 51. 

Parietal bones, 130. 

Paris, Matthew, extravagant en- 
tertainments mentioned by, 370, 
371. On dress, 371. 

Paris, plaster of, 210. 

* Parson's Tale,' Chaucer's, quot- 
ed, 371. 

Patterns used in arts of copying, 
214-218. Labor of making 
these, 217. 

Pendulum, 98. 

Pennsylvania, coal and iron in, 
377, 378. Importance of work- 
ing these, 381, 382. 

Perkins, Mr., invention of, for 
multiplying copies of engrav- 
ings, 227. 

Permeability, 299. 

Perrot, M., inventor of the Per- 
rotine, 166. 

Perrotine, description of, 166. Ex- 
tensively used, 167. 



Persians, arch unknown to, 128, 

Peru, architecture in, 134. 

Philosopher's stone, attempt to ] 
discover, arose from ignorance j 
of natural laws, 31. 

Philosophy, ancient and modern 
compared, 395-397. Ancient 
schools of, 395, 396. Of Ba- 
con, 396. 

Philosophy, mechanical, 127. 

'Philosophy of manufactures,' Dr. 
Ure's, quotation from, 29. 

Physical sciences, their connexion 
with the useful arts, 12, 13. 

Pi, term used by printers, 223. 

Piers, of an arch, 128. 

Pigs, of iron, 195, 196. 

Pilkington, Bishop, reproof of ex- 
travagance in dress, 375. 

Pinion, of a clock, 219. 

Pinion-wire, 219. 

Pipes, leaden, how made, 220. 

Pitkin, his ' Statistics of the Uni- 
ted States,' referred to, 146. 

Plane, inclined, 91. 

Planing, 297. 

Plants, food of, 109-115. Office 
of the roots of, 109, 113. Need 
stimulants, as light, heat, elec- 
tricity, 115. Effect of light on, 
115 ; of heat, 115. 

Plaster of Paris, moulds of, used 
in making pottery, 210 ; in tak- 
ing busts, 214. 

Plates, engravers', method of 
forming, 215. 

Plates, stereotype, how made, 
217. 

Playfair, Dr., on the parish of 
Meigle, in Strathmore, 353. 

Ploughs, among the Greeks, 119. 
Improved, 119. Steam, 119. 

Plumb-line, 57. 

Plush, mode of weaving, 139. 

Point of saturation, 42. 

Political economy, 16. 

Pompeii, glass windows at, 201, 

Porcelain, clays used for, 208. 
Chinese, made of feldspar, 212; 
superiority of, 212. Philadel- 
phia, 212. 



INDEX. 



427 



Posidonius, 395. 

Potass, constituent principle of 
plants, 110, 113. 

Pottery, manufacture of^ 207-213. 
Shaping, 209. Burning, 210. 
Glazing, 211. Coloring or paint- 
ing, 212. Connexion of the art 
with chemical science, 212. 
Progress of the art, 212, 213. 

Powder, used in stone quarries, 
135. 

Power, gained by velocity, 93. 
Relative value of horse, 231 ; 
steam, 231. Ratio of, to ve- 
locity, 237, 238 ; to ascent, 
239. 

Power, moving, in a modern fac- 
tory, 152. Employed in trans- 
portation, 231, 232. See Trans- 
portation. 

Power, physical, comparative re- 
gard for, in former and present 
times, 249. Relative value of, 
and intellect, 249. 

Power-presses, see Presses. 

Press, hydrostatic, 64. 

Press, printing, great improve- 
ments in, 224. 

Press-man, work of a, 224. 

Presses, power, &c., how work- 
ed, 225. Great amount of work 
performed by, 225. Messrs. 
Clowes's, 225. 

Pressure, hydrostatic, 63, 64. 

Pressure of the atmosphere, 68. 

Prime movers, 47, 48. 

Printers' types, metal of, 194. 

Printing, 99. Improvement in 
the art of, 221. London Quar- 
terly Review on, 222-224. 
Process of, described, 222-224. 
Rapid improvement in art of, 
. 225. From cavities, examples 
of, 225, 226. Of colored maps, 
226. Benefits bestowed by the 
art of, 227. 

Printing of calico, 164-167. 

Printing-press, great improve- 
ments in, 224. 

Projectiles, effect of gravity on, 
57. 



Propeller, Captain Ericson's, 246. 

Property, effect of, on national 
welfare, 261. Dependence of, 
on industry, 261. 

Proportional numbers, 46. 

Proportions, definite, 46. 

Prosperity, national, influence of 
cultivation of the useful arts 
on, 261, 279-282. Productive 
employment essential to, 262. 

Pulley and rope, 91. Same prin- 
ciple with the lever, 92. 

Pulp, in paper-making, 154, 155. 

Pulverization, 296. 

Pump, common, principle of, 68, 
69, 73. 

Punching, operation of, 218. In- 
stances, 218. 

Pyramids, of Egypt, 135. Of 
South America, 135. 

Pyrometer, use of, 76, 105. Con- 
struction of, 77. Invented by 
Wedgewood, 77. 

a. 

Quarterly Review, London, 224. 
Queen Catharine, 345. 
Quilts, Marseilles, 140. 

R. 

Radiation, occasion of frost, 116. 
Rags, paper, preparation of, 152, 

1 53. Mode of reducing to pulp, 

154. 155. Grinding, 154. 
Bleaching, 154, 155. Beating, 

155. Economy of, 257. 
Rail-roads, advantages of, 238 ; 

when level, 239. Recent im- 
provements in, 244, 245. 

Rasping and chipping, 296. 

Rennet, 181. 

Rensselaer Institute, 401. 

Resistance, overcome by machin- 
ery, 92. Can be overcome only 
by greater force, 93. 

Review, London Quarterly, on 
printing, 222-224. 

Revolution, American, state of 
the army during, 275. 

Rivers, as means of conveyance, 
238. 



428 



INDEX. 



Roads, rail, 238, 240, 244-246. 
McAdam, 239. Among the an- 
cients, 240 ; the Romans, 240 ; 
in England in time of Elizabeth, 

240. Influence on the happi- 
ness and welfare of a people, 

241, &c. ; in Highlands of Scot- 
land, 241 ; in Ireland, 243. 

Roberts, self-acting mule of, 149. 

Rolling-gin, description of, 145. 

Romans, absence of mechanic in- 
ventions among, 72. Spinning 
and weaving among, 141. 

Rotation of crops, 112, 332, 335. 

Roving, 148. 

Roving-frame, 148. 

Rupert's drops, 204. 

S. 

Saggars, 210. 

St. Martin, abbey of, 75. 

Sal-ammoniac, production of, 258. 

Salt, common, obtained by evap- 
oration, 42. 

Salt, Glauber's, 42. 

Salt, Epsom, 42. 

Sand, as a manure, 112. 

Saturation, point of, 42 ; impor- 
tance of knowing, 42. 

Sawmg, 296. 

Saw-gin, described, 145. Invent- 
ed by Whitney, 145. Effect of, 
on production of cotton, 146. 

Saw-mill, 94. Figure of, 94. 

School of Arts, at Lyons, 304. At 
Paris, and other cities, 399. 

Schools, rural, of Switzerland 
and Ireland, 400. 

Science, discovers and applies the 
laws of Nature, 21. Importance 
of acquaintance with, to practi- 
cal men, 24, 26, 28, 30, 31-34, 
318-324. Brougham on advan- 
tages of, 30, 34. Progress of, 
35, 316. Effects of the appli- 
cation of, to the useful arts, 
249-258. Probable future dis- 
coveries of, 259. And indus- 
try, connexion between, 266. 

Science, chemical, founded on 
laws of affinity, 47, 103. 



Science, mechanical, improvement 
in, 134-137. Effect of this on 
society, 136. Application of, 
to manufacture of cloth, &c., 
138-158, 166, 167. 

Scotland, mendicancy in, 352, 
Miserable condition of, in the 
seventeenth and eighteenth 
centuries, 352-357 ; recent im- 
provements, 356, 357. 

Scotland, Highlands of, benefits 
of opening good roads, 241,242. I 

Scouring and cleansing wool, 161. | 

Screw, principle of, 91. Figure 
of, 91. 

Scutching-machine, 147. 

Scythes, manufacture of, 97. 

Seneca, philosophy of, 395. 

Seringapatam, granite quarries 
near, 27. 

Sharpe's self-acting mule, 149. 

Shearing, 297. 

Sheep, feed, &c. of, 335, 336. 
Raising of, in England, 340. 
Leicester and South Down, 
340,341. 

Sherman, Roger, 309, 310. 

Sherwood forest, 338. 

Ship-biscuit, process of making, 
171, 172. 

Shot-casting, 297. 

Silica, or silicious earths, in mak- 
ing glass, 201 ; pottery, 208. 

Sinclair, Sir John, on making 
cheese, 182. 

Sizing, for paper, 155. 

Skull, constructed on the princi- 
ple of the arch, 129-131. Bones 
forming the, 130. See Bones. 

Slip, cement for pottery, 210. 

Smeaton, 102. 

Smelting ores, 193, 196. 

Smith's Archimedean screw, 246. 

Smith, Rev. Mr., account of con- 
dition of Scotch in last century, 
355, 356. 

Soap, manufacture of, 26. 

Society, progress of, influenced 
by intercourse and transporta- 
tion, 230, 240-243. Affected 
by improvements in the arte. 



INDEX. 



429 



252-256, 260, 288, 290. Ef- 
fect of cultivation of cotton on, 
393-395. 

Soda, a bleaching agent, 160. 

Soil, importance of water to the, 
110 ; of carbonic acid gas. 111 ; 
and how procured. 111. On 
manuring, 112-114 ; season for 
this, 114. Productiveness of, 
greatly increased by culture, 
117, 118. Light, 334. 

Soils, treatment and mixture of, 
depends on chemical principles, 
25, 26, 109. Means of improv- 
ing, 109. 

Solders, 194. 

Solids, subject to action of gravi- 
ty, 57, 104. Effect of gravity 
on, 57, 105. Specific gravity 
of, 66. 

Solution, power of, limited, 41. 

Solutions, show the operation of 
affinity, 41, 103. Principle of, 
41, 103. 

Solvents, liquids are, 41, 103. 
Water a solvent, 124. 

South America, pyramids of, 135. 
Weaving among the Indians of, 
142, note. 

Specific gravity, 66, 67. 

Spencer, Thomas, on engraving 
by galvanic electricity, 383 ; his 
apparatus, 384, 385. Copying 
medals, 388. Depositions of 
copper, on clay and plaster, 389. 
Further experiments of, 390. 

Sphenoid bone, 131. 

Spinning, among the Greeks and 
Romans, 141. With the spin- 
ning-wheel, 142 ; spinning-jen- 
ny, 142 ; spinning-frame, 143, 
144 ; of cotton, 142-144, 149. 

Spinning-frame, Arkwright's, 143, 
144, 149. 

Spinning-jenny, 142. 

Spinning-wheel, 96, 142. 

Splitting, 297. 

Springs, in carriages, use of, 235. 

Stamping, copying by means of, 
221. Medals, 221. 

Stamping-mill, for metals, 192. 



Statistics, of beer, 121. Of cot- 
ton, in America, 146, 169 ; in 
Great Britain, 169. Of manu- 
factories in the United States, 
263, 264. Of Great Britain, 
367-370 ; population, 368 ; 
grains and other articles of food 
and consumption, 368, 369 ; 
commerce, agriculture, manu- 
factures, 369. 

' Statistics of the British Empire,' 
McCulloch's, 143, 149, 329, 
349-352, 357. 

Steam, how produced, 78. In 
heating factories, 78. Immense 
expansion of water to form, 79. 
As a mechanical agent, 79-84; 
in the steam-engine, 80-84, 
Numerous applications of, 83— 
85. 

Steam-boat conveyance, benefits 
of, 243. 

Steam-engine, value of, 393. 
Low-pressure, 80. Figure of 
Watt's, 81. High-pressure, 82, 
83; superior advantages of, 83. 
Figure of, 84. Advantage of, 
in transportation, 231, 232. 

Steam-loom, increasing powers 
of, 29. 

Steam-navigation, recent improve- 
ments in, 244. 

Steam-ploughs, 119. 

Steam-power, advantage over 
horse-power, 231, 232. 

Steam-ships, royal mail, 244. 

Steel, how made, 195, 198. 

Stereotype plates, how made, 
217. 

Stippling, 215. 

Story, Judge, on advantages of 
science to a mechanic, 30, 32. 
Quoted, 321. 

Study, manual labor not incom- 
patible with, 310. 

Stuff-chest, 155. 

Stuff-engine, 154. 

Subliming, 298. 

Suction pump, 69. 

Sugar made from linen rags, 258. 

Sugar of lead, 143, 175. 



430 



INDEX. 



Sugar-refining, new process of, 

34. 
Sulphate of lead, see Lead. 
Switzerland, rural schools of, 400. 



Tea, use of in England, 346. 

Tearing, 296. 

Teasel, bur of, 141. 

Technology, Bigelow's, 3, 201, 
208. Science of, 293. Divis- 
ions of, 293. 

Telescope, improvements in, 206, 
207. 

Telescope, tubes for, 219, 220. 

Telford, Mr., on opening roads 
and canals, 241, 242. 

Temperature, measured by ther- 
mometer, 76, 105 ; by pyrom- 
eter, 76, 77, 105. 

Tempering steel, 195. 

Temporal bones, 130. 

Theory and practice, 250 ; Gui- 
zot on, 250. 

Thermometer, 76, 105. 

Tile draining, 336, 337. 

Tiles, 208. 

Tillage, Grainger and Kennedy 
on, 326. 

Tilt-hammer, 97. 

Time, on husbanding, 312, 313. 

Tortility, 300. 

Transfer, copying by, 228. Dix- 
on's and Dupont's, 228. Meth- 
od described, 229. 

Transferring, 212. 

Transportation, facilities for, pro- 
mote improvement and enjoy- 
ments of men, 230, 241. Mov- 
ing power employed in, 231, 
232 ; human force ; horse- 
power ; wind and steam, 231, 
232. Vehicles used in, 232-237. 
Improved facilities for, 240 ; 
and benefits of these, 241-246. 

Travelling, comparative rates of, 
in Great Britain, at difi*erent 
periods, 391, 392. 

Trees, architecture of, 134. 

Triblet, 219. 

Trituration, 296. 



Tubal-Cain, a worker of metalsj 
189. 

Tube-drawing, process of, 2 
220. 

Tubes for telescopes, 219, 220. 

Tull, Jethro, on turnips, 325. 
Introduced drill husbandry in 
England, 327. 

Turkey carpets, 139, 140. 

Turning, 297. 

Turnips, cultivation of, 325,333; 
influence of this on English ag- 
riculture, 332. Advantages of 
cultivating, 333. Consumption 
of, by sheep, 335. Swedish, 
336. 

Types, making, 217. How sup- 
plied with ink, 224. 

U. 

Ulloa, on weaving among the 
South- American Indians, 142. 

United States, natural advantages 
of, 268 ; varieties of soil and 
climate, 268 ; rivers, lakes, ca- 
nals, &c., 268. These resour- 
ces should be turned to account, 
269. Peculiar advantages to, 
c?f substituting machinery for 
human force, 271. Expense 
of labor in, 271. Water-power 
in, 271. Objections against en- 
couragement of the useful arts 
in, considered, 283-290. Cli- 
mate and soil of, compared with 
England, 329, 330 ; price of 
land and labor, 330, 331. Im- 
provement in food, clothing, 
&c., 357, 358. Coal and iron 
mines, 377, 378. Price of la- 
bor, 379. 

Ure, Dr., ^Philosophy of Manufac- 
tures,' 29. On mechanical and 
chemical manufacture, 40. On 
spinning, 144. On heating fac- 
tories, 78. On moving power of 
a modern factory, 152. On use 
of the Perrotine, 166, 167 ; on 
calico-printing cylinder, 167; on 
manufacturing districts of Eng- 
land and Scotland, 263, 289. 



ISCEX, 



431 



His classification of the arts, 
294-303. On silk manufacture 
of Lyons, 304-306. 
Useful arts, see Arts. 

V. 

Valley Forge, 275. 

Vegetable manures, 113, 114. 

Vegetables, history of, 345. Ar- 
tichoke, asparagus, celery, cau- 
liflower, 345. 

Vehicles, used in transportation, 
232-237. Wheel carriages, 232 
-235. Vessels, 236. 

Velocity, 50. Of moving bodies, 
57-59. Increases power with 
loss of time, 93. Change of, 
by machinery, 94, 95. Modes 
of increasing, 96, 97. 

Velvet, how woven, 139* 

Verplanck, G. C, 309. 

Vessels, on motion of, in water, 
236. Best form of, 236. Steam, 
243, 244. 

Vinegar, how made, 174. 

Vinous fermentation, 172, 173. 

W. 

Wagon, centre of gravity illustra- 
ted by, 53* 

War, of 1812, effects of, on com- 
merce in United States, 273. 

Warp, in weaving, 189. 

Washington, state of his army, 
275. On extension and encour- 
agement of manufacturing in- 
terests, 278, 291. 

Watch, balance-wheel of, 94. 
Figure of, 95. Wheels of, 96. 

Water, combines with alcohol, 
40. Dissolves sugar, 41. Of 
what composed, 44, 45 ; same 
.ingredients always in same pro- 
portions, 45. ' Action on wheels, 
60-62. Supply of, in a city, 
62. Pressure of, 63, 64. Em- 
ployed as the standard of specific 
gravity, 66. How raised in the 
pump, 69. How forced out, in 
the fire-engine, 71. Freezing 
of, 77, 78. Great expansion of. 



in steam, 79. Use to soil and 
plants, 110. Powerful solvent, 
124. Resistance of, to vessels, 
&c., 236, 237 ; in a canal, 
237 ; increases as the square 
of the velocity, 238. 

Water conveyance, 237, 238, 
243, 244. 

Water-level, construction and fig- 
ure of, 66. 

Water-mark, in paper, 156. 

Water-meadows, 338, 339. 

Water-power, in United States, 
271. 

Water-wheels, varieties of, 60, 
61, 62. 

Watt, James, 33. Figure and il- 
lustration of his steam-engine, 
81. Origin of his flexible wa- 
ter-main, 102. A man of sci- 
ence, 322. 

Wax, bleaching of, 160. 

Weaving, process of, 139, 140, 
150. Various kinds of, 139, 
140. Among Greeks and Ro- 
mans, 141. 

Webster, Daniel, on agriculture 
in England, 329-341. 

Wedge, principle of, 91. Figure 
of, 91. Examples of, 91. 

Wedgewood, pyrometer invented 
by, 77. Manufactory of, 209. 
Improvements in the art of pot- 
tery, 213. 

Weight, in a clock, 57. 

Wesley, John, 313. 

Wheat, 188. 

Wheel, overshot, 60 ; water acta 
on, by weight, 60. Undershot, 
water acts on, by impulse, 61. 
Breast, 61, 62. Toothed, and 
rack, 94* Balance, in a watch, 

94, 95. 

Wheel and axle, examples of, 
89, 90. Principle of, 90, 95, 
96. Representations of, 90, 

95, 96. Power of, 95, 96. 
Wheel carriages, 232-235. 
Wheel, fly, power, 97. Use, 98. 
Wheels, diminish resistance of 

friction, 233 ; in proportion to 



432 



INDEX. 



their size, 234. Why dished, 
235. Broad and narrow, 235. 
Water, varieties of, 60, 61, 62. 

White vitriol, 43. 

Whitney, Eli, 145, 146. 

Wilks, J., his pulp-rollers, 158. 

Willett, Col. M., 310. 

Willow, the, 147. 

Wiltshire, meadows in, 338. 

Windmills, 71. 

Window-glass, how made, 203. 

Windows, glass, a modern inven- 
tion, 201. Found at Pompeii, 
201. Painted, 206. 

Wine, best, obtained from the 
grape, 173, 174. Adulteration 
of, 175, 176. 



Wire-drawing, 219. 
Wood-engraving, 215. 
Woof, weft, or filling, 139. 
Wool, scouring and cleansing, 

161. Dyeing, 162. 
' Workingman's Companion,' 360. 
Workingmen, who are, 311. 
Wort, 173. 

Wrought iron, 96, 195. 
Wyatt, John, his patent for a 

spinning-frame, 143. 



Yolk, in wool, 161. 



Zinc, acetate of, 43. 



I 



THE END. 



•? V 7 *« 9 



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Deacidified using the Bookkeeper proci 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: Aug. 2003 



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